Highly regarded Brazilian power forward is Gamecocks’ newest commitment
South Carolina men’s basketball team has landed another commitment from an international player.
Brazil’s Mathias Vazquez committed to the Gamecocks, according to DraftExpress’ Jonathan Givony. The 18-year-old Vazquez becomes the third international player to commit to Lamont Paris and the Gamecocks this offseason, joining Hugo Lopez and Juan Fernandez.
According to Givony, Vazquez is one of the top international prospects for his age before tearing his ACL in May. The school announded he will redshirt this season.
Some analysts, before the injury, said that Vazquez could have been taken in this year’s NBA Draft. Vazquez also visited Texas and Michigan.
“While his knee injury was unfortunate, I believe Mathias is equipped with the determination, commitment and discipline required to take full advantage of this next year,” Paris said in a school release. “He will learn our system, improve his basketball skills and fine tune his body in a way that there is little doubt he will come out on the other side stronger in every facet of the game.”
Vazquez has played professionally for Real Betis Baloncesto as well as Brazil’s national team. He was 16 when he made his debut for the Brazilian national team, making him the youngest player in the country’s history.
Vazquez helped Brazil to the bronze medal at the 2026 Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany and averaged 16.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.6 steals. He also played at Overtime Elite in Atlanta for the 2025-26 season and averaged 8.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.0 blocks.
South Carolina also announced the additions of Nasir Hines of Palm Beach State Junior College in Florida and former Wilson Hall standout Ford Wilder. The two additions give the Gamecocks 15 players on the roster.
The 6-foot-10 Hines played one season at Palm Beach and averaged 2.1 points and 1.2 rebounds. per game. He was high school teammates with USC signee Marcus Johnson.
Wilder was a 1,000-point scorer at Wilson Hall in Sumter and averaged 21 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals per game during his senior season. He also was a quarterback for WH football team and member of the school’s track and field team, winning the SCISA state championship in the long jump.
South Carolina begins summer workouts on Monday in preparations for their summer trip to the Bahamas on Aug. 7-11.
The Gamecocks are coming off a 13-19 season, and their roster is going through a massive overhaul. Twelve players departed because of graduation or transfers.
South Carolina has added six others from the transfer portal: Davion Hannah (Alabama)l, Jakub Necas (Duquesne), Shane Blakeney (Drexel), Aleksas Bieliauskas (Wisconsin), Camden Heide (Texas) and Kory Mincy (George Mason).
This story was originally published June 19, 2026 at 10:16 AM with the headline "Highly regarded Brazilian power forward is Gamecocks’ newest commitment."
