South Carolina Basketball: Ranking the top-12 point guards in Gamecock history
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Basketball’s No. 3 Greatest Point Guard of All-Time:
Devan Downey
Devan Downey (2007-2010) was a South Carolina native (Chester) who left the state out of high school. However, after just one season at Cincinnati, Downey left the Big East and returned home to the Gamecocks. After sitting out his transfer redshirt season, Downey proved he was special with three great seasons in Columbia.
Listed at 5’10” (he was more like 5’8″), Downey immediately became the best scorer for Dave Odom in his final year as coach, and he continued his success into the Darrin Horn era in Columbia. In his three seasons in garnet and black, Downey scored over 20 points per game, dished out 4.5 assists per contest, and swiped a remarkable 2.9 steals per game.
Despite playing for just three seasons, Downey is in the top-10 in Gamecock basketball history in points, assists, steals, free throws, and three-pointers. Arguably the quickest player to ever wear a South Carolina basketball uniform, Devan Downey was also a two-time honorable mention All-American and two-time All-SEC first-team performer and made an All-Defensive team.