South Carolina MBB lands high-scoring in-state guard from transfer portal
Shane Blakeney will be coming back to the Palmetto State to finish his college basketball career.
The Rock Hill native and Drexel guard is transferring to play for Lamont Paris and the South Carolina Gamecocks, The State has confirmed. Blakeney later posted the commitment on his Instagram page. Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress was the first to report the news.
Blakeney is the fourth addition from the transfer portal for USC and will have one year of eligibility left.
Blakeney had his official visit with USC this weekend and also visited Wake Forest and Mississippi. Ohio State, Wisconsin, Mississippi State and North Carolina State also were in the mix.
Blakeney joins George Mason’s Kory Mincy, Texas’ Camden Heide and Wisconsin center Aleksas Bieliauskas as other transfer portal additions for the Gamecocks, who are looking to restock its roster after graduation and players transfering out of the program.
Georgia’s Dylan James also is visiting the Gamecocks this weekend.
The 6-foot-5 Blakeney finished his high school career at Legion Collegiate in Rock Hill before heading to Drexel. He is coming off his best season in which he averaged a career-high 14.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists and shot 42.4 percent from the field this season.
Blakeney was a CAA second team selection and also was named to the league’s all-defensive team.
The Gamecocks lost seven players to the transfer portal and five players to graduation, so Paris and his staff will be busy adding new players to the roster. South Carolina has only one high school signee in four-star Marcus Johnson. The Gamecocks will return Grant Polk, Hayden Assemian and Eli Sparkman.
USC went 13-19 this season and lost in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
South Carolina men’s basketball 2026-27 roster outlook
Out of eligibility
• Meechie Johnson, G
• Nordin Kapic, F
• Kobe Knox, G
• Mike Sharavjamts, G
• Myles Stute, G
In the transfer portal
• Jordan Butler, F
• Eli Ellis, G (College of Charleston)
• Christ Essandoko, F
• Cam Scott, G
• Elijah Strong, F
• EJ Walker, F
• Abu Yarmah, G (Longwood)
On the roster
• Hayden Assemian, F
• Grant Polk, G
• Eli Sparkman, G
High School signee
• Marcus Johnson, G
Transfer portal additions
• Camden Heide, F, Texas
• Kory Mincy, G, George Mason
• Aleksas Bieliauskas, C, Wisconsin
• Shane Blakeney, G, Drexel
This story was originally published April 19, 2026 at 2:09 PM with the headline "South Carolina MBB lands high-scoring in-state guard from transfer portal."
