South Carolina Basketball: Two Gamecock transfer portal targets ranked in top-10

South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris has seen two players exit the program this offseason in the transfer portal as star guard Meechie Johnson (Ohio State) and versatile reserve Ebrima Dibba (undecided) entered the transfer portal last week.

So far, the Gamecocks have not received any transfer portal commitments in this class, but Coach Paris and his staff are in on a few transfer players. If Paris' first two years in Columbia are any indication, Carolina will take several players this cycle (USC took four players in both transfer classes).

This week, On3 released a list of their top-10 highest-rated point guards in the transfer portal, and two South Carolina basketball targets made the list.

Both JP Pegues and Jordan Sears made the list at #2 and #5, respectively, and both players have expressed real interest in the Gamecocks. Pegues visited campus over the weekend, and Sears announced USC as one of his six favorite teams.

Sears is a combo guard with big-time scoring ability. As a smaller guard, he can shoot, attack defenses with aggressive dribble-drives, and has a lot of moves in his bag of ballhandling tricks. Though he likes to have the ball in his hands, Sears is an elite catch-and-shoot player, something that the Gamecocks could use as they look to replace two good shooters from last season's starting backcourt in Ta'Lon Cooper and Meechie Johnson.

Pegues is more of a true point guard than Sears, but he is also a dynamic scorer who can put the ball in the basket from all three levels. Pegues was a two-year starter at Furman and put up a 2-1 assist-turnover ratio with the Paladins. He would be a good fit in Lamont Paris' screen-heavy system as he excels at scoring and distributing from ball screens at the top of the key and in the pick-and-roll.

Both Pegues and Sears are also being pursued by major programs in the SEC and other power conferences.