Lamont Paris announces South Carolina's five transfer portal additions

On Wednesday, South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris announced the addition of five transfers who will be joining the program this upcoming season.

During this transfer portal cycle, the Gamecocks have landed forward Aleksas Bieliauskas (Wisconsin), guard Shane Blakeney (Drexel), forward Camden Heide (Texas), guard Kory Mincy (George Mason) and forward Jakub Nečas (Duquesne). All five players have signed financial aid agreements to play for the Gamecocks in 2026-27, per a press release from South Carolina athletics.

Below, Paris shares his thoughts on each player and what they’ll add to the program.

Aleksas Bieliauskas

“Aleksas is another guy that brings invaluable NCAA Tournament experience to our program. He ultimately earned the starting role as a true freshman and made some critical plays that allowed his team to secure some of the biggest wins in all of college basketball last year. Aleksas is a very skilled player with real size and physicality, that can also open games up quickly with his ability to make shots from the 3-point line. I believe there is tremendous growth potential for Aleksas, and can’t wait to see how he responds to his role here in Columbia!”

Shane Blakeney

“Shane is a player that has just continued to get better every single year and has blossomed into a complete player. He has turned into a really good 3-point shooter that rebounds exceptionally well for his position and has a real desire and ability to be an elite perimeter defender. Shane is a very hard worker that has tremendous perspective. He is so excited to be back in his home state of South Carolina, and we are equally excited about adding him to this talented group!”

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Camden Heide

“Cam is an elite 3-point shooter. He is big enough and physical enough to play the power forward position, yet versatile enough and skilled enough to play some small forward as well. On top of that, Cam is a proven winner that has the knowledge of and expectation to do the things it takes to win games at the highest level. It’s hard to quantify what his 13 games of NCAA Tournament experience will bring to our locker room.”

Kory Mincy

“Kory is a very versatile point guard that was asked to do a lot of things for his team last year. He delivered in a big way as he led his team to 23 wins in the sixth-best conference in the country. He can shoot the ball from behind the arc, attack and create for others, as well as get to the free throw line. He is an extremely competitive player, which we witnessed first-hand a couple years ago, that has potential to be an outstanding on-the-ball defender as well.”

Jakub Nečas

“As a starter of all 32 games he played in this year, Jakub brings a lot of experience to our front court. He has potential to be one of our more versatile bigs on the offensive end. He can shoot the ball from the 3-point line and has developed into a guy that is comfortable with his back to the basket in certain matchups. He is also very comfortable playing out of a shot fake and attacking from the perimeter or facilitating offense as a play maker out of the short roll.”

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