South Carolina lands commitment from Finnish point guard
South Carolina men’s basketball is going to look anywhere and everywhere to try and add to the program. And the Gamecocks are adding high-upside player Morris Ugusuk from the international ranks.
Morris Ugusuk announced Thursday in a ceremony he was committing to South Carolina.
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The Gamecocks landed him with Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, Duquesne and Dayton also showing interest.
Ugusuk plays internationally in Finland for the Omnia Basketball Academy. On3 rates him as an 86-overall prospect and a three-star in the class of 2024.
He’s considered the No. 18 combo guard in the class. According to ProBallers.com, Ugusuk averaged 12.3 points this season while shooting 44.1 percent from the field.
The 6-foot-4 point guard averaged 4.6 assists to 2.5 turnovers. He shot 34.2 percent from three and 65.7 percent from the line. Ugusuk also averaged 3.9 boards and 1.4 steals per game.
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“For Morris, I would say he’s a hybrid. He can be a scoring point guard but he can also be a very good facilitator as well. I think he’s more of a facilitator because strength-wise it limits some of his scoring. Once he gets stronger he’ll be able to score more too,” Omnia head coach Justice Graham told GamecockCentral in February.
“He’s definitely a defensive guard. Even right now, he pressures the ball with long arms and can really lock up and actually block shots as well. His limitations come with strength, but I know that will come in college. I know college will bulk him up. That’s easy.”
South Carolina began showing interest in Ugusuk and his Omnia teammate Okku Federiko in the middle of the season, offering both.
The Gamecocks hosted both on official visits in March while they were stateside.
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South Carolina also has a 2023 recruiting class that includes two more enrolling freshmen in Collin Murray-Boyles and Arden Conyers along with three currently-committed transfers.
Murray-Boyles, who grew up in Columbia, played his final high school season at Wasatch (Utah) Academy where he had a standout senior year.
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The 6-foot-8 forward finished third in the NIBC, arguably the best high school conference in the country, in scoring (280 points) and points per game (15.0) on 69.5 percent shooting.
He also led the league in rebounding with 105 boards while averaging a league-best 8.8 per game.
Because of that, he soared into the top 100 of the On3 rankings. He sits currently as a four-star and at No. 99 overall.
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The On3 Industry ranking–which is a weighted average of all four major recruiting services–has Murray-Boyles as a four-star prospect and the No. 106 player in the class.
Arden Conyers, a sharp-shooting wing out of Westwood (S.C.) High School is the other freshman scheduled to enroll this summer.
On3 considers Conyers a three-star prospect and he checks in at No. 263 in the On3 Industry rankings.
South Carolina also has a transfer portal class that currently consists of point guard Ta’Lon Cooper (Minnesota), forward Stephen Clark (The Citadel) and wing Myles Stute (Vanderbilt).
