Summer workouts are underway for the South Carolina men’s basketball team. Coming off a disappointing 2024-25 season, the team retooled in the offseason and will look to better compete in a tough SEC conference. 

Next year’s squad will look very different from the 2025 team that went 12-20 overall and an abysmal 2-16 in conference games. 11 of the 14 current players on the roster are new to town. They are a mix of incoming transfers and former high school stars.. 

During a press conference last week, head coach Lamont Paris said the team has spent time on and off the court building chemistry. 

“That kind of stuff is important for these guys , just to get to know each other and learn how to communicate with one another,” he said. “ We'll do a lot of activities. Some will be smaller things. We'll do a couple more significant things in the summertime to try to expedite that process.”

Of the 11 newcomers, six came via the transfer portal.  Utah’s Mike Sharavjamts, Boston College’s Elijah Strong, Providence’s Christ Essandoko, South Florida’s Kobe Knox and UC San Diego’s Nordin Kapic will suit up for the Gamecocks in 2025-26. 

Ohio State’s Meechie Johnson is the sixth transfer. Johnson spent two seasons with the Gamecocks from 2022-2024 and had some of the best seasons of his career, quickly becoming a fan favorite. 

He transferred back to Ohio State for the 2024-25 season after starting his career there. He saw a slip in production, and his season ended early after stepping away for personal matters.

“He’s been so excited about getting here and being here,” Paris said.  ”I think this is a guy that said, ‘This was a great situation for me. I got a guy and a staff that believe in me. I have a fan base in a community that supports me.”

Johnson has not been practicing due to back tightness, but Paris said that has not stopped him from attending team workouts and being a vocal leader. 

“ His voice is a very powerful voice,” Paris said. “He's demonstrating great leadership, even though he is not in, which was a bummer for him because he was really looking forward to getting into the drills and leading by doing.”

Paris is excited for his 2025 transfer class. They are an experienced group who have contributed to success at multiple levels. 

Kapic averaged 10 points and five rebounds in his lone season at UC San Diego. The Austrian started 33 games and helped the team qualify for its first NCAA tournament since moving to Division I. 

The forward also played two seasons at Division II Lynn College in Florida. There, he earned the Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year award in 2023. In 2024, he was named first-team All-Conference after averaging 19 points and nine rebounds.  

Knox transferred to the Gamecocks after a career-best year at South Florida last season. The rising senior made 30 appearances and averaged 10 points in 28 minutes per game. 

SEC basketball runs in Knox’s family. His older brother Kevin plays for the Golden State Warriors and is a former first-round pick out of Kentucky under John Calipari. His younger brother Karter was a five-star recruit and currently plays at Arkansas, also under Calipari. 

Sharavjamts averaged seven points and three rebounds at Utah last season. South Carolina will be his fourth stop after also playing at Dayton and San Francisco. 

Strong spent the first two seasons of his career at Boston College. He played his high school ball not far from Columbia at Charlotte’s Myers Park, winning a state championship in 2023. Last season, he averaged 10 points and four rebounds. 

Essandoko is the final transfer so far in the 2025 class. The 7-foot big man averaged four points and four rebounds in 22 games last season. He started his career at Saint Joseph's, where he averaged eight points and six rebounds.

The incoming freshman class is highlighted by social media phenom Eli Ellis. He was a four-star and has a large social following, including 1.2 million TikTok followers and 643,000 on Instagram.

 ”So far I've seen Eli doing Eli stuff, and I say that in all the best ways,” Paris said. “ He's a hard worker for a young guy. He just is really confident in what he does.”

Joining Ellis are four-star EJ Walker from Kentucky, Grant Polk out of Washington D.C., Hayden Assemian from North Carolina and Abu Yarmah from Virginia. 

The three returning players from last year’s team are Jordan Butler, Myles Stute, who received an extra year of eligibility after being granted a waiver from the NCAA, and Lexington’s own Cam Scott. 

Scott was one of the many players to jump into the portal after last season, but he eventually withdrew his name and announced his decision to return to the Gamecocks. He will look to build on his freshman campaign, where he averaged three points and about 10 minutes per game. 

“ We had a lot of conversations with him and his group, and we're here to support, help, teach and believe,” Paris said. “ We continue to believe in him and all the guys that are on our roster. That's why they're here, because we have belief in the fact that someday they will be a really good player for us.”