Another South Carolina basketball alum gets his first professional contract

South Carolina basketball fans witnessed one of the best seasons in program history last year. Aside from the 2016-2017 Final Four run, the 2023-2024 Gamecocks put up the best year since the team's back-to-back NCAA Tournament teams in the 1990s (when they were a 2-seed and 3-seed in the Big Dance in consecutive years). Before that, nothing compared since the Frank McGuire era in the 1960s and 1970s.

Lamont Paris' team managed to tie the program record for wins last year with their 26-8 mark, and the showing was good enough to tie the Gamecocks for 2nd place in the SEC.

The season was propelled by newcomers as freshman Collin Murray-Boyles and a transfer portal class loaded with veterans made up the majority of the minutes rotation. One of those transfers was big man BJ Mack, a Charlotte native who had a nice year for the Gamecocks in his final year of college ball.

On Thursday, it was announced that Mack's basketball playing days would continue as he signed a professional contract with Club Baloncesto Moron of the Preimero FEB (Federacion Espanola de Baloncesto) in Spain.

Over the past twenty seasons, CB Moron has worked its way up the Spanish League's relegation system, moving from the 6th tier of professional basketball in the country to the 2nd. The club won the 3rd tier during the 2023-2024 campaign, so this next season will be their first in Spain's 2nd division.

During his one year with the South Carolina basketball team, Mack averaged 13.6 points and 4.7 rebounds and had five 20-point scoring outings, good for 2nd on the team behind guard Meechie Johnson. He played a prominent role in the offense, especially in the pick-and-pop game, helping create matchup issues for opposing defenses thanks to his willingness to take outside shots.