Lamont Paris provides evaluations of six Gamecocks signees

South Carolina men’s basketball has signed six transfer portal additions to the program this offseason.

With one scholarship remaining to fill, head coach Lamont Paris provided in-depth evaluations of each player via a release on Thursday afternoon.

Check out the evals below.

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G Meechie Johnson (Ohio State)

“What can I say? As a coach, there aren’t too many times that you get to bring a truly ‘known commodity’ into your program out of the portal,” said Paris. “I’m extremely happy to welcome Meechie BACK to Columbia. He had great individual success in his first season as a Gamecock, and in year two really learned how to turn that individual growth into tremendous team success! More importantly, I’m just excited to be around him again as a human being and to see the impact that his energy will have on his teammates.”

F Christ Essandoko (Providence)

“The first thing you will notice about Christ is that he has truly impactful size for any level of basketball,” said Paris. “As you dig into his game, though, you discover a high level of feel for the game combined with a very good foundational skill set. While the majority of his work will likely be done around the basket, he has shown the ability to make shots from the perimeter early on in his career, and we will look to help develop that as another weapon for him to use as he transitions to SEC basketball.”

G Kobe Knox (USF)

“Kobe really has a great understanding of not only basketball, but of what competing to win at this level looks like,” said Paris. “He played a key role in the transformation of South Florida into a top-25 team and AAC Regular Season Champion in his first season on campus. He also grew up competing with and against two brothers that have had success in this league, and now it is his time to do the same. As a player, he has the ability to make shots, as well as the willingness and ability to find his teammates when they are in position to score, which is an incredibly important skill.”

South Carolina basketball transfer portal resources:

• South Carolina basketball transfer portal tracker
• South Carolina basketball transfer portal headquarters
• South Carolina basketball transfer portal target watch list
• On3 National Transfer Portal Tracker
• Get news notifications via the On3 app

F Elijah Strong (Boston College)

“Elijah’s game has really grown in his two years of playing college basketball,” said Paris. “He has gained a lot of in-game experience and that has led to the confidence you need to perform at this level. He has expanded his game to being a real threat from behind the arc as well as attacking around the basket. He has a great combination of both power and agility that should give him the ability to attack matchups versus a variety of defenders, smaller or bigger.”

G Mike Sharavjamts (Utah)

“Sometimes a player is described as a bigger guy that handles the ball like a guard,” said Paris. “Mike truly IS a big guard. He sees, reads and plays the game like a crafty 6-footer would, but uses his 6’9 frame to enhance his ability to see and execute things that would prove to be more challenging for smaller guards. He has EXTREME offensive versatility, so expect to see him playing both on and off of the ball. I am really looking forward to helping him unlock a new level of play. Mike is also very unselfish and has an uncommonly high basketball IQ.”

F Nordin Kapic (UC San Diego)

“Nordin is another very versatile player that really knows what it means to COMPETE,” said Paris. “He transitioned from Division II to Division I without skipping a beat and helped lead his team to 30 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth. He has logged a ton of minutes at the college level and, because of that, brings a calm confidence to the game. His ability to make 3s with real range has been proven, and he is very comfortable attacking the basket as well. Because of whom he is as a person and a worker, I expect this to be another very successful transition.”

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