How Winthrop basketball’s top transfer players have helped the Eagles snag early wins

Winthrop overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Queens University of Charlotte, 88-82, in the teams’ non-conference matchup Tuesday, lifting the Eagles to 7-3 on the season — their best 10-game start in the Mark Prosser era.

Junior K.J. Doucet, a 6-foot-7 forward, led all Winthrop scorers with 21 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field and 7-for-8 shooting from the line.

“I feel like I played pretty good,” Doucet said. “I missed a couple layups, I missed a couple of easy ones, but overall, I feel like I played pretty good.”

Just three days ago, Doucet led all Eagles with a season-high 22 points in Winthrop’s 90-87 victory over Coastal Carolina.

Doucet has become a high-impact player for Winthrop — his 14 points per game are the best on the Eagles through 10 games.

Not bad for his first year on the team. Doucet played last season for Fort Valley State, a Division II school in Georgia, where he was the SIAC Freshman of the Year in 2021-22, and was SIAC Player of the Year last season as a sophomore.

Just 10 games into his inaugural season at Winthrop, Doucet feels like he’s part of more than just a team; he’s part of a family.

“I love that,” Doucet said. “That was a lot of my recruiting process too. A big reason I came here was how family-oriented they were. And everything they said, it was going to happen. And that’s been real since then. I just want to thank my teammates for their support. I’m not doing this without them either. Everybody played a role in it.”

Transfer portal gains

Doucet isn’t the only incoming transfer providing some quality minutes for Winthrop this season.

Nick Johnson (10.6 points, 4.0 rebounds), previously with the University of New Hampshire, and Alex Timmerman (10.0 points, 6.1 rebounds) from Bucknell have also come through in some big spots for the Eagles.

Johnson had 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in Tuesday night’s win over the Royals, while Timmerman put up 14 points with eight rebounds and three assists.

Winthrop head coach Mark Prosser said that the summer session allowed the team to get a jump start on meshing before the regular season.

“They’re great kids,” he said. “We were able to recruit and welcome them in to a locker room of other really great kids. They’re very selfless and with a deep team, like I think that we have, on any given night, it could really be anybody. And I think you’ve seen that. Guys are going to get the opportunity and when they get that opportunity, they’re able to step up, and we’ve had a bunch of guys do that.”

This year’s class of transfers joined senior guards Kasen Harrison, Isaiah Wilson and Sin’Cere McMahon as the other transfers on the team.

Prosser said that Winthrop’s reputation allows the team to consistently get talented players in the transfer portal.

“The reason you come to Winthrop is because you walk in (Winthrop Coliseum) on a recruiting visit, you look up and you see all these banners that were earned by a lot of players that were here before us,” he said. “It’s understood that we have a program that’s highly attractive, and we can recruit good players. When you have good players, you’re going to understand some nights I may not get what I typically get maybe someplace else. But if it’s all about team and it’s all about winning, we have a chance to be really special. I know it is for those three guys, and I know it is for the guys in the locker room.”

Winthrop next plays at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Dec. 10 at 1 p.m.