South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks lose first player to transfer portal

Dawn Staley's South Carolina basketball squad is on the verge of history. The #1-overall seed in this year's NCAA Tournament is just six wins away from becoming the 5th program ever to go undefeated throughout an entire college basketball season (UConn 6x, Tennessee, Texas, and Baylor have all done it). However, the Gamecocks will be without one of their players as they look to make their postseason run.

On Monday, it was reported by several outlets that freshman forward Sahnya Jah has entered the transfer portal, and Coach Staley confirmed the reports with a statement. Jah was suspended from the team back in February for conduct detrimental to the team and no word on her reinstatement had surfaced. In fact, no details behind her suspension were ever released.

Jah did not play a significant role with the Gamecocks this season as she was usually the 11th player on the bench. She managed to score over 5 points twice and pulled down more than 5 rebounds just once. She only got into one game that finished with a scoring margin closer than 20 points, the November contest on the road against North Carolina.

Despite not being in the rotation this year, Sahnya Jah likely could have had a future as a player who focused on rebounding and defense, but she will have to find that role with another program as she will no longer be a member of the South Carolina basketball team.

The Gamecocks will have plenty of scholarship space heading into next year. With up to 15 scholarship spots at her disposal, Coach Staley has at least two free spots left even if there is no roster movement this offseason. However, with the expectation that Kamilla Cardoso will be in the WNBA next year, that gives Carolina three spots to play with in the transfer portal this offseason.

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