South Carolina MBB learns place in SEC Preseason Poll; Murray-Boyles earns preseason All-SEC honors
Ahead of Tuesday’s SEC Tipoff ’25 event in Birmingham, Alabama, South Carolina men’s basketball was picked to finish 11th in the conference’s media preseason poll. In addition, star sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles became the first Gamecock since AJ Lawson to be named to a preseason All-SEC team.
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Full press release from USC Athletics
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The league office announced its results from the media preseason poll on Monday. South Carolina was picked to finished 11th in what is now a 16-team Southeastern Conference with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma.
Voting was done by a select panel of both SEC and national media members.
Sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles was selected Preseason Third Team All-SEC. The Columbia, S.C., native is the first Gamecock to earn Preseason All-SEC recognition since AJ Lawson when he was selected Preseason Second Team All-SEC in 2020-21.
Murray-Boyles is coming off a solid freshman campaign in which he saw action in 28 games, starting the final 19 for the Gamecocks. He averaged 10.4 points, 5.7 rebounds (led team), 1.8 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per game en route to earning SEC All-Freshman honors. He shined down the stretch in league play a season ago, highlighted by a 31-point outing in a double-digit win over Vanderbilt (2/10/24) and a 24-point performance against Arkansas (3/14/24) in the second of round of the SEC Tournament that helped Carolina to its first win in the conference tournament since 2018.
He shot 59.7 percent (117-196) from the floor to lead the team and also had a team-high 21 dunks. Murray-Boyles scored in double-figures in 10 of the team’s final 13 games last season.
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Alabama was picked to win the league with Mark Sears selected as the Preseason SEC Player of the Year.
The Gamecocks open the season Monday, November 4, at home against North Florida with a 7 p.m. (ET) tipoff on SEC Network+. Conference play is set to begin Saturday, January 4. The 2025 SEC Tournament will be March 12-16 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Season tickets are on sale now with more information available here. Single-game tickets will go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster here.
Head coach Lamont Paris, Murray-Boyles and graduate forward Nick Pringle will represent South Carolina at SEC Tipoff ’25 in Birmingham, Ala. tomorrow. The Gamecocks will be onsite from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (ET) with live appearances on the SEC Network from 11:05-11:20 a.m. and SiriusXM SEC Radio (channel 374) from 10:30-11 a.m.
2024-25 SEC PRESEASON MEDIA POLL RESULTS
First Team All-SEC
Mark Sears – Alabama
Johni Broome – Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr. – Florida
Zakai Zeigler – Tennessee
Wade Taylor IV – Texas A&M
Second Team All-SEC
Grant Nelson – Alabama
Jonas Aidoo – Arkansas
Johnell Davis – Arkansas
Matthew Murrell – Ole Miss
Josh Hubbard – Mississippi State
Third Team All-SEC
Chad Baker-Mazara – Auburn
Alex Condon – Florida
Jaxson Robinson – Kentucky
Collin Murray-Boyles – South Carolina
Tramon Mark – Texas
SEC Player of the Year
Mark Sears – Alabama
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Predicated Order of Finish
- Alabama
- Auburn
- Tennessee
- Arkansas
- Texas A&M
- Florida
- Texas
- Kentucky
- Ole Miss
- Mississippi State
- South Carolina
- Georgia
- Missouri
- LSU
- Oklahoma
- Vanderbilt
