Roster outlook: Which South Carolina players will be back next year? What they said
South Carolina men’s basketball’s season just ended, but there’s no time to rest.
The Gamecocks fell 86-74 to Oklahoma on Wednesday night and were eliminated from the SEC Tournament in Nashville, bringing their 2025-26 season to a close.
USC announced Tuesday that head coach Lamont Paris will return for a fifth season with an increased NIL budget. On April 7 — one day after the National Championship game — the NCAA transfer portal will open through April 21. The Gamecocks need to act fast on building their 2026-27 roster and turning the page on a 13-19 (4-15 SEC) season.
But before Paris and his staff can begin recruiting the next transfer class of Gamecocks from other programs, they need to determine how many players from the current roster will be retained. Nine current USC players have at least one more season of college eligibility. Will they spend it in Columbia?
“We’ll have meetings immediately with all the guys, the guys that are out of eligibility, and then certainly all the guys that have eligibility still,” Paris said. “There’s so much mobility that, in conjunction with the player and their family and any of the people that are in their circle, you come to a decision on who will be here the next year and who won’t be here the next year.”
“... Then you’ll have an idea of what you need to bring in to fill some of those voids.”
Here’s what the Gamecock players said after Wednesday’s loss:
Undecided
Two USC players who spoke to The State after the game, freshman guard Eli Ellis and junior forward Jordan Butler, didn’t say outright that they’d want to be back next year, but didn’t say the opposite either. Both emphasized that they would take some time before making a decision.
Eli Ellis, freshman guard: “I’m thinking about it for sure. I’m just ready to take a little bit of time off, rest, get my body right and, hopefully figure it out. I really have no idea right now. I just got done with the game. There’s a lot of emotions right now. Coach Paris coming back is definitely a factor.”
Jordan Butler: junior forward: “I’ve just been focusing on the season. I haven’t really sat down with my corner yet, sat down with any coaches or anything like that yet. I’m not quite sure yet.”
Want to stick around
Even after a down year, most of USC’s potential returners said they’d like to be back in a Gamecock uniform next season.
However, none have yet turned those desires into final decisions. They’ll still have to go through exit interviews, talk with their support systems and figure out their all-important NIL situations. Paris said discussions between players and coaches will happen “relatively quickly.”
All the players who said they want to come back said Paris being retained for next season is a positive factor in their decision. Here’s what each hopeful returner had to say:
Elijah Strong, junior forward: “Those conversations will be had, but I have no intentions on doing anything else but being a Gamecock. I want to stick it out. I want to play my last year under Coach Paris. That’s something I really want to do. Conversations will be had, but the plan is to be back in this uniform and keep fighting for my dogs. I hope my locker room stays as same as possible, because we have a really good group. I genuinely believe that.”
EJ Walker, freshman forward: “I haven’t really talked about it. But I don’t want to be a transfer-every-year type of guy, you know? I just want to do whatever the best decision is, and if it’s the right fit, and everything works out, then that would be the plan.”
Christ Essandoko, redshirt junior forward: “I would love to. I would not want to go somewhere else, especially with Coach Paris coming back, I feel like it could be great. But we’ll have the end of the year meetings and figure out how it all works. My decision, I would not want to go somewhere else.”
Grant Polk, freshman guard: “I definitely want to be back at USC., but I’m going to meet my coaches and take some time off, and then go from there. I would obviously say (Paris’ return) was a factor, because he was my coach this year, and I’d want to play for him again next year.”
Hayden Assemian, freshman forward: “Absolutely, I want to be back. Hometown, home city, hopefully we can be a little bit better next year and represent the state a lot better. We all came here for a reason. He’s a great guy, great coach, taught us a lot. I wouldn’t want to play for anyone else this year. It’s a great thing he’s gonna be back.”
The others
Six USC players are out of eligibility and cannot play for any NCAA program next year:
- Meechie Johnson, redshirt senior guard
- Nordin Kapic, senior forward
- Kobe Knox, redshirt senior guard
- Mike Sharavjamts, senior guard
- Eli Sparkman, senior guard
- Myles Stute, graduate student guard
Two players with remaining eligibility, redshirt guards Cam Scott and Abu Yarmah, were not available for interviews after the game. It would not be a massive surprise if Scott transfers. He entered the portal after his freshman year at USC before withdrawing and returning, but he didn’t play at all this season.