South Carolina Basketball: Transfer portal guard names Gamecocks in top-5

South Carolina basketball made a lot of transfer portal and recruiting news in the last five days.

Just before the weekend, Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers combo guard Dakota Leffew put the Gamecocks on his list of top-6 schools and fellow combo guard target Jordan Sears (UT-Martin) announced his commitment to the LSU Tigers.

Then, during a wild weekend, transfer target JP Pegues revealed he was going to be an Auburn Tiger. Shortly after Pegues' announcement, forward target Malik Dia pledged his services to the Ole Miss Rebels, but the Gamecocks also got some major good news.

Columbia-area native Cam Scott (elite shooting guard in the 2024 class) was released from his NLI to the Texas Longhorns, immediately making the Gamecocks the favorite to land the talented Palmetto State native.

But hidden within the craziness of recent days, the Gamecocks were part of another recent announcement from another transfer portal guard.

Tulane Green Wave transfer guard Kolby King announced his top-5, and South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris has his team in the hunt for his commitment.

King just finished his sophomore year at Tulane (he started his career with the St. John's Red Storm), and he flashed a lot of ability as a scorer.

King is an elite catch-and-shoot player who made around 40% of his opportunities last season and canned nearly 38% of all of his 3-point shots. He also is a big-time finisher around the rim, shooting over 60% near the bucket.

Physically and stylistically, he resembles former Gamecock guard Meechie Johnson a lot. He is quick, can attack the basket, is a demon in transition, and is a reliable shooter from outside when taking good shots. However, also like Johnson, King hurts his efficiency by taking some really tough shots at times. King also resembles the former USC star with above-average defense.

King is not much of a distributor despite playing the point guard position. He averaged fewer than 2 assists per game last season. However, he is adept at finding cutters for easy buckets, indicating that he has more talent as a passer and facilitator than he has shown so far in his college career.

You can watch some of his highlights here.