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South Carolina basketball freshman to enter transfer portal

Screenshotby: Kevin Miller04/07/26kevinmillerGC

South Carolina basketball’s season ended last month with a loss to the Oklahoma Sooners at the SEC Tournament. It didn’t take long for the focus to shift to the offseason. The transfer portal opened on April 7, and official player movement began.

Gamecock true freshman Abu Yarmah plans to transfer ahead of the 2026-2027 season, he told GamecockCentral’s Fisher Brewer on Tuesday. Yarmah redshirted this season and did not see any game action. Because of that, he will have four years of eligibility remaining at his next stop.

Yarmah is the second player in as many years to transfer from South Carolina without ever seeing game action. Forward Okku Federiko redshirted the 2024-2025 season before transferring to Drake.

South Carolina basketball transfer portal resources:

Coming out of Overtime Elite in the class of 2026 (he was a high school teammate of fellow USC 2026 signees Eli Ellis and Hayden Assemian), Yarmah was a three-star recruit. He was the No. 310 overall player in the ’26 cycle. He was also No. 56 nationally among all small forward prospects. In the state of North Carolina, regardless of position, Yarmah ranked 20th.

South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris will return for his fifth season in Columbia, but it will be with a very different roster. Because of graduation and the transfer portal, the Gamecocks have just four returners projected for next season.

In addition to Yarmah, guard Eli Ellis and forwards Elijah Strong, EJ Walker, Jordan Butler, and Christ Essandoko have revealed plans to transfer. Obviously, with the transfer portal open for about two weeks, that number could grow.

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