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South Carolina has lofty expectations for 'Mongolian Mike' Sharavjamts in 2025

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Mike Sharavjamts (Katie Dugan/GamecockCentral)

His last name is pronounced Shar-uv-JAHMTS. It’s still difficult to say all in one go, so his teammates just call him by his first name, along with a few other nicknames.

“We just call him Mike,” Myles Stute said on SEC Now during SEC Media Days on Tuesday. “Money Mike, that’s it right there.”

“Money Mike or Mongolian Mike,” Meechie Johnson added.

Have fun trying to say his full name without butchering it: Enkhiin-Od Michael Sharavjamts

His father, who was the first Asian Harlem Globetrotter, was known as “The Mongolian Shark.” Mike Sharavjamts is known by most as “Mongolian Mike” or “Money Mike.” Or simply just Mike.

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Sharavjamts is a transfer guard who’s in his fourth different school in four years. He spent one season each at Dayton (2022-23), San Francisco (2023-24), and Utah (2024-25). His final stop will come at South Carolina, where the expectations are high for him to make an immediate impact.

“He’s a dude, man. Yeah, he’s a dude,” Stute said. “That’s what it comes down to. He is an ultra-competitive guy, somebody you can rely on, somebody who’s gonna be consistent for us.”

Sharavjamts will wear No. 55, last worn by fan favorite Ta’Lon Cooper, who also spent one year with the Gamecocks in 2023.

Standing at 6-foot-9, he’s the third-tallest player on South Carolina’s roster, only behind two 7-foot forwards. He’s by far the tallest guard on the team, clearing the others by a few inches. He’s unique, to say the least.

“He is as functional an athlete as I’ve ever been around, in terms of running, jumping, changing direction, going from being finesseful to powerful,” head coach Lamont Paris said.

Sharavjamts has played in 99 career games with 83 starts while averaging 6.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. He finished with 7.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists last year at Utah.

Paris believes he can play at several positions on the floor for South Carolina.

“He’s very versatile. He’s a really good defender, and that was something that we challenged him on when he got here,” Paris said. “I think he can guard a lot of different positions, and he sees the floor and makes passes. He’s a willing passer. He’s just versatile, I guess that’s probably the best thing I could say, is just that he can do a lot of different things on the back.”

Sharavjamts is one of many new faces on the team as the Gamecocks added 11 players through transfers and high school recruiting. Yet despite so much newness, they have a lot of veteran players, including Sharavjamts, who the players are excited to work with.

“One of those guys that, when the ball’s gotta go in the basket, that’s who we’re looking at a lot of times,” Stute said. “So I’m excited just to play alongside him, alongside Meechie. We have a great group of guys coming up at this time.”

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