Lamont Paris high on potential Morris Ugusuk brings to South Carolina
When Lamont Paris and the South Carolina staff first laid eyes on Morris Ugusuk, they saw someone who Paris joked weighed half of what the Gamecocks’ head coach was at the moment.
He was young and still needed to get his body in order, but they saw other more basketball-specific things that could play at the high-major level.
So when Ugusuk wanted to commit to the Gamecocks and go ahead and enroll this summer, they chomped at the bit to get him on campus.
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“Originally it was looking at some of the things he did from a feel perspective as a basketball player. You look at some of his measurables, he’s really long for a young guy,” Paris said.
“If you took half of my body it probably weighs what he weighs right now. I wish I was back to that. He has a really good feel for the game of basketball. He has the ability to move up in terms of class. The opportunity presented itself for him to do so.”
On3 ranks Ugusuk as a three-star prospect and the No. 18 combo guard in the 2024 class. South Carolina sees him as a point guard when he is ready to get on the floor.
According to South Carolina’s release on Ugusuk, he averaged 17.2 points, 5.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game for Omnia Basketball Academy.
He also averaged 12.4 points, 4.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds in 23 games for HBA-Marsky in the Finnish First Division.
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“I really like him as a young man,” Paris said. “The organization he plays for did a good job instilling what basketball is. And what the game really looks like and the things most important in winning and losing basketball games. He’s ahead of the curve in ways in terms of his development as a basketball player.”
Ugusuk told GamecockCentral his plan is to get on campus and spend the 2023-24 season getting his body into a place where he’s able to compete as a redshirt freshman.
That will also give him a year to get adjusted to the Gamecocks’ system and prepare for whatever role he’ll have the following season.
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“He needs more time in terms of his development as an athlete,” Paris said. “That’s probably the biggest thing in terms of being able to get out there and compete for us. He’s just got to develop physically.”
Ugusuk is part of a seven-man recruiting class for South Carolina currently that includes three freshmen and four transfers.
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Top-100 senior Collin Murray-Boyles and three-star wing Arden Conyers also signed with South Carolina as part of the incoming freshman class.
The Gamecocks are also bringing in veteran pieces and entrenched starters at previous schools like BJ Mack (Wofford), Stephen Clark (The Citadel), Myles Stute (Vanderbilt) and Ta’Lon Cooper (Minnesota).
All four have started at least 59 games over their careers with each starting at least 26 games last season. Only Stute (26 games) started fewer than 30 games last season.
It’s an older group that won’t force this group of freshmen into roles they’re not ready for yet.
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“I’m super excited about it. One thing we were able to do is get older and more experienced. I looked at our team last year. And going into the season who had been a regular starter had been Hayden Brown on the entire team,” Paris said.
“Now we’ll be able to have six, seven or eight guys who’ve been in that same situation. Even if the overall talent was the same exactly, from an experience standpoint these are huge additions for us. Just looking forward to getting these guys here and having some fun getting better.”
