The Gamecocks Men’s Basketball team is losing guard Trae Hannibal to the transfer portal after an underwhelming season. 

According to Verbal Commits, Trae Hannibal has entered the transfer portal. Hannibal averaged six points per game while shooting nearly 44 percent from the field for South Carolina this season. Hannibal largely came off the bench, giving Seventh Woods and Jermaine Couisnard a rest. 

Hannibal’s transfer isn’t much of a surprise, which talented young guards Jacobi Wright and Devin Carter coming to Columbia next season. Teammate Keyshawn Bryant has announced to enter the NBA Draft, which is a big loss for the program. So currently we have AJ Lawson and Keyshawn Bryant entering the NBA Draft, with sophomore Trae Hannibal hitting the road. The university is also growing tired of the mediocrity of the basketball program, where the school has elected to keep Head Coach Frank Martin(for now). University officials and the Gamecocks fanbase are running out of patience for this program to become relevant again. 

But it’s not all bad, Hannibal does free up some space in the guard rotation. With Lawson likely going to the draft and Seventh Woods likely graduating(fingers crossed), the team will need to lean heavily on the skills of Jermaine Couisnard and incoming talent Jacobi Wright. Lights out shooter Mike Green may finally get some minutes along with incoming freshman Devin Carter. So ultimately Hannibal’s departure is good for allowing other guards to get their shots at making an impact for the Gamecocks. 

Martin did a few words about how the transfer portal is affecting the state of the Gamecocks team.

“Sustaining a high level of winning only happens at a handful programs around the country; everybody else, there’s a rebuilding window,” Frank Martin said to a Kansas City radio station. “What’s hurting … schools like mine is this whole transfer stuff that we’ve been having. How about this — there’s over 700 transfers in the portal right now. We haven’t even started the NCAA tournament, and there’s already 700 transfers. We’ve averaged about 780 transfers a year over the last five years. It’s made it real hard to sustain winning at high levels, so everyone’s going to take a step back and regroup and rebuild it again, and I know that’s what we’re doing.”

Ultimately, Trae Hannibal will be missed. The Spurs Up Show wishes Hannibal the best as he continues his collegiate basketball career.