The South Carolina men’s basketball team will look a bit different next season. 

Head coach Lamont Paris recently announced the addition of six incoming transfers, highlighted by the return of All-SEC guard Meechie Johnson. 

Johnson returned to South Carolina one year after his return to Ohio State. Johnson spent two seasons with the Gamecocks after previously transferring from the Buckeyes. Last season at Ohio State, Johnson appeared in 10 games, averaging 9.1 points, 2.7 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. He took a leave of absence in December due to personal matters and did not return to the court the rest of the season. 

During his first stint with the Gamecocks, Johnson was an impactful player, appearing in 63 games while averaging 13.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. 

He had the best season of his career in 2023-24, earning Second Team All-SEC honors after averaging 14.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists. He helped lead the Gamecocks to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2017 and a second-place finish in the SEC regular season. 

“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,”  Paris said in a press release. “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.”

Other incoming transfers include Christ Essandoko from Providence, Kobe Knox from USF, Elijah Strong from Boston College, Mike Sharavjamts from Utah and Nordin Kapic from UC San Diego. 

Essandoko has played in 47 games with 22 starts during his first two collegiate seasons. 

He started his career at Saint Joseph’s before transferring to Providence. This past season at Providence, he averaged 4.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. 

“The first thing you will notice about Christ is that he has truly impactful size for any level of basketball,” Paris said. “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.”

Knox has played in 97 games through his three collegiate seasons. He started his career at Grand Canyon before moving to USF. He comes to South Carolina fresh off his best collegiate season where he averaged 10.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Knox comes from a family of basketball players. His brother Kevin played at Kentucky and is now in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors. His younger brother, Karter Knox, plays at Arkansas and helped the Razorbacks reach the Sweet 16.

“Kobe really has a great understanding of not only basketball, but of what competing to win at this level looks like,” Paris said. “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.”

Strong spent two seasons at Boston College, appearing in 46 games. He averaged 9.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game last season. Strong played high school ball in Charlotte at Myers Park. There, he helped lead the Mustangs to the 2023 4A state championship. 

South Carolina will be the fourth spot for Sharavjamts. He previously played at Dayton, San Francisco and Utah. He’s played in 99 career games with 83 starts. 

Sharavjamts comes from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and made history as the first Mongolian citizen to earn an NCAA Division I scholarship. He has represented his country in numerous international competitions. His father, Sharavjamts Tserenjankhar, aka The Mongolian Shark, was the first Asian Harlem Globetrotter.

Kapic helped lead UC San Diego to a 30-5 record and NCAA tournament appearance last season. Before his one season in San Diego, Kapic played at  NCAA Division II Lynn in Boca Raton. 

“Nordin is another very versatile player that really knows what it means to COMPETE,” Paris said. “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.”