A Kentucky native is making an impact off the bench for South Carolina

EJ Walker came into his first college season at South Carolina fully expecting to redshirt, but head coach Lamont Paris eventually decided he needed the freshman forward on the hardwood.

Walker, a native of Florence, KY, who graduated from Lloyd Memorial as a three-star high school recruit, sat out the first eight games of South Carolina’s 2025-26 season. The Gamecocks started with a 5-3 record while Walker watched from the bench, but the five wins came against teams ranked outside the KenPom top 200, with the three losses against teams inside the top 100. Following an 86-83 overtime loss to Virginia Tech, Paris elected to give the 6-foot-7, 250-pound rookie from the Bluegrass State a chance.

Walker made his season debut against Stetson on Dec. 6, finishing with two points and two rebounds in 13 minutes, burning his redshirt in the process. South Carolina cruised to an 82-51 victory. Walker has since made an appearance in 16 of the Gamecocks’ following 18 contests, including a pair of starts against Texas on the road and Missouri at home.

“He has a tremendous understanding of what we would like to do. I don’t know if it’s probably a combination of intelligence, combined with intent, very intent listening,” Paris said following Walker’s college debut. “… He’s really intentional about it. Even though he’s in a redshirt situation, and I asked questions, he always knows the answer to what I’m asking. When I say always, he always knows the answer, so he pays attention, even though he wasn’t going to be playing in the games.”

Through 12 SEC games, Walker is averaging 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per contest off the pine while shooting 50 percent from the field. His impact hasn’t been overwhelmingly significant nor has it led to team-wide success for South Carolina, which is 12-15 overall with a 3-11 conference record, but he’s now effectively serving as the Gamecocks’ seventh man after coming into his freshman season with zero expectations of even seeing the floor. Walker hit his first three-pointer in nearly a month during South Carolina’s 97-89 win over Mississippi State on Saturday, the program’s first victory since Jan. 20.

Paris said during the offseason that Walker was “one of the most improved players” since he arrived on campus. Walker played varsity at Lloyd Memorial for five seasons with his dad serving as head coach. He was an all-state performer and is the school’s all-time leader in points (1,922), not to mention his 4.0 GPA. He chose the Gamecocks over a group of finalists that included Purdue, Ohio State, and Wisconsin.

Put all that together, and it’s no surprise to see Walker developing ahead of schedule for an SEC team. He’ll have a chance to prove that against his home-state team when South Carolina hosts Kentucky on Tuesday night (7:00 p.m. ET | SEC Network) in Columbia.