South Carolina Basketball: Ahead of first scrimmage, freshman revealed to miss significant time

South Carolina basketball will play host to the Wofford Terriers on Wednesday evening as the in-state program will travel to Columbia to take on the Gamecocks in an exhibition game. Tickets are $10 (free for students), and all proceeds will be donated to the Maui Strong Fund to help support relief and rebuilding efforts after the devastating wildfires in Maui.

Gamecock basketball fans are excited for the opportunity to see their favorite team take the floor for the first time (other than the Garnet and Black Madness intrasquad scrimmage), but the South Carolina basketball team will be without at least one of their most highly-touted newcomers.

4-star freshman forward and top-100 national prospect Collin Murray-Boyles will not play tonight against Wofford and will be out for an “indefinite” amount of time moving forward. Murray-Boyles, an AC Flora product, has contracted mononucleosis and will be unable to do any strenuous exercise for a while.

No timeline has been given for CMB’s absence as mono recoveries can vary from person to person. Even after he returns from his absence, the dynamic freshman will need to spend some time getting into game shape. It is also unclear how long he has missed already with the ailment. He missed the Garnet and Black intrasquad scrimmage with the illness.

Other key contributors to year 2 of the Lamont Paris era will play on Wednesday night, however. Transfer forwards BJ Mack (who transferred in from Wofford) and Stephen Clark (The Citadel) are joined by point guard Ta’Lon Cooper (Minnesota) and versatile wing Myles Stute (Vanderbilt).

Murray-Boyles’ fellow freshmen Arden Conyers (Columbia native), Morris Ugusuk (high school teammate of 2024 commitment Okku Federiko), and Austin Herro (brother of Tyler Herro) are not expected to play huge roles for the 2023-2024 version of the Gamecocks, but they could find important roles on the team in time.

Returners Meechie Johnson, Josh Gray, Jacobi Wright, Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, Zachary Davis, and Eli Sparkman all played large roles at times for last year’s team. Ebrima Dibba technically is a returner, but he missed all of last year with an Achilles injury.

Fans who can’t make it out to Colonial Life Arena can listen to the exhibition game by following this link.

The South Carolina basketball squad officially will tip off its season next Monday, November 6th at home in Colonial Life Arena against another Spartanburg school, the USC-Upstate Spartans.