South Carolina guard Austin Herro enters NCAA Transfer Portal

South Carolina guard Austin Herro has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. He is the younger brother of NBA All-Star Tyler Herro, who played college basketball at Kentucky. Austin Herro spent two seasons at South Carolina but redshirted his true freshman year.

In Austin Herro’s lone season with the Gamecocks, he made 10 appearances. However, he typically only got into games in the closing moments and never played more than three minutes in a single game this season. Austin Herro only scored two points this season. He recorded just two total field-goal attempts.

Austin Herro played high school basketball at Whitnall (WI). There, he was an unranked prospect, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

In his senior year at Whitnall, Herro led his team to a 25-4 record and state championship appearance after averaging 14.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. He shot 45% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc.

At 6-foot-3, Austin Herro is several inches shorter than his older brother. In turn, he needs to be as skilled as possible to find similar success. In January, South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris discussed Austin Herro’s lack of playing time.

“I gave him a hard time, only because the things he got hurt on while he was out there — that’s a tough spot to be in,” Paris said after South Carolina’s loss against Oklahoma. “… He hasn’t played at all in a meaningful game, then you’re going to come out on the road at Oklahoma in the first half. That’s hard, but hopefully there will be some things he can learn from there.”

Paris seemingly didn’t have strenuous demands for Herro. The 50-year-old head coach just couldn’t afford to play the inexperienced guard if he was going to hurt the Gamecocks when he was in the game.

“Once he’s reliable in those situations, he can get out there,” Paris said. “He doesn’t have to score, doesn’t have to do much offensively except throw it to the guys with the same-colored jerseys on as him.”

It wasn’t an ideal season for the Gamecocks. Just one season after tying for second place in the SEC, South Carolina finished dead last, posting a 2-16 record in conference play. Now, Lamont Paris and Co. will look to regroup ahead of next season. South Carolina has one four-star prospect and three three-star recruits in its 2025 recruiting class.