South Carolina basketball: transfers the Gamecocks are reportedly interested in

The offseason is in full swing and that means the portal is churning for every school in the country, including South Carolina.

The Gamecocks are no different, having lost players to it but also reaching out to some high-level scorers and a few other players.

According to Jamie Shaw and On3, the Gamecocks have shown interest in Kansas State transfer Selton Miguel.

Stockrisers’ Jake Weingarten has reported that South Carolina has reached out to Oregon State’s Jarod Lucas, Akron’s Ali Ali, ECU’s Tristen Newton, NC State’s Cam Hayes, Utah State’s Fardaws Aimaq and Belmont’s Will Richard.

Pair that with the Gamecocks showing interest in Ohio’s Mark Sears and Clemson’s Nick Honor, according to CBS’s Jon Rothstein.

Miguel has started 36 games in two seasons for Kansas State averaging 7.2 points and 4.0 rebounds this season from largely the small forward position. He shot 37.5 percent from the field, 20.5 percent from three.

Lucas is one of the highest-scoring players the Gamecocks’ have reportedly contacted, coming off a career-high 13.5 points per game at Oregon State last season.

The shooting guard shot 41.5 percent from the field and 38.6 percent from three while averaging just 1.1 turnovers per game.

Ali Ali is a three-year starter at Akron from the power forward spot mostly, having a standout junior season.

He wasn’t an elite rebounder, just 2.9 rebounds per game, but played a lot on the perimeter. He averaged 13.9 points per game and shot 40.7 percent from three while averaging 3.5 attempts per game. 

Newton is another high-level scorer, averaging 17.7 points on 43.5 percent shooting last season for the Pirates. He also had five assists per game to pair with 3.5 turnovers.

Newton also shot 87.9 percent from the free-throw line while splitting the majority of his time at the point and the two-guard spot.

Hayes wasn’t a prolific scorer in two seasons with the Wolfpack, averaging 7.3 over his career in 55 career games. He did make 27 starts and shot 35.5 percent from the field.

The North Carolina native was a former four-star prospect and the No. 68 overall player in the 2020 class coming out.

Aimaq might be the highest-profile player on this list, a two-time all WAC and two-time WAC All-Defensive team, two-time WAC Defensive Player of the Year, and last season’s WAC Player of the Year.

He averaged 18.9 points and 13.6 rebounds per game last season while shooting 49 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from three on 1.4 attempts per game.

He did average 3.0 turnovers per game but only fouled 2.7 times per game from the center spot.

Richard averaged 12.1 points in his freshman season at Belmont, usually one of the better mid-major programs in the country.

He shot 46.8 percent from the field and averaged six rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He was playing largely at the small or power-forward spots.

Sears is the highest-scoring player on the list, averaging 19.7 points on 44.3 percent shooting last season for Ohio. He shot 40.8 percent from three and shot 88.5 percent from the line.

The point guard averaged 4.1 assists and 3.2 turnovers per game last season while averaging nearly 36 minutes per game.

South Carolina fans are familiar with Honor during his time at Clemson. Last season he averaged 7.7 points on 39.5 percent shooting playing primarily point guard.

He averaged 2.4 assists to 0.9 turnovers per game. He shot 90.5 percent from the line on 1.3 attempts per game.

Justin Byerly has also reported the Gamecocks are showing interest in another Belmont transfer, JaCobi Wood.

Wood was the backup point guard this season, averaging 6.3 points and 2.2 assists to 1.7 turnovers. He shot 40.7 percent from the field and 33 percent from three.

South Carolina’s lost five scholarship players to the transfer portal as of this writing. They will need to replace four starters, the team’s sixth man and two reserve bigs entering next season.

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