South Carolina will be without head coach Frank Martin Saturday night on the road against LSU, but newcomer Tre-Vaughn Minott (Montreal, Quebec / NBA Academy Latin America) will be in uniform. On Thursday night, twenty minutes after the school’s announcement, Martin and other members of his coaching staff will not be traveling with the team due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, Martin was on his weekly call program on the Gamecocks Radio Network to discuss the latest addition to his team.
“Since then Patrick Iriel we left the team, we already fell a body, “said Martin.” With the way COVID hit our basketball team and not having enough people, we sat down as a team and said we can use another big one. Chuck Martin picked me up quickly at Tre-Vaughn and we started recruiting him. The experiences of Duane Notice and AJ Lawson here playing for Gamecocks and how much respect there is in Canada for (our program), we said we were in and Tre’Vaughn jumped on the phone. He was excited to be here and everyone supported.
“I am sad that he is here and I have not trained, but that will change very soon. He will be in uniform on Saturday and here we go. … He does not burn his eligibility year this year because he will be a freshman again next year. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. It brings you here early to start training with Scott and start to understand how we play and how we do business. His range is 7-7 and we are excited. who we are and how to score. He needs to keep getting in better shape, much like Alanzo Frink, a young man who had to change his body in the last year. (Minott) has tremendous work ethic and great hands. “
Minott will use No. 50 for Gamecocks (3-2, 1-0 SEC). The tip against LSU Tigers (9-2, 4-1 SEC) in Baton Rouge is set to 20:30 ET on the SEC network.
Minott was originally scheduled to be part of the 2020 recruiting class, but decided in the spring to reclassify back to 2021. Instead, he recently decided to change his college start date and joined the Gamecocks program after committing to Martin and his team on January 8.
When he was part of the 2020 class, Minott received an offer from the state of Arizona. When Minott was reclassified to 2021, he was receiving interest from the Sun Devils, as well as Butler, Clemson and New Mexico. Providence is another school that was offered at this point in the process.
Minott played for the National Preparatory Association in Canada, which also helped form current South Carolina playmaker AJ Lawson, as well as female basketball striker Laeticia Amihere.
He currently spent the last year at the NBA Academy in Mexico City. Minott is 1.80 m tall. Assistant coach Chuck Martin was the main recruiter for the Gamecocks.
Minott can go on the stock market immediately due to the departure of Iriel, a signatory of 2020 who left the team in the fall semester. It enters a list of low posts that includes Wildens Leveque and Alanzo Frink in the central position. Ja’Von Benson and Jalyn McCreary they are also low posting players.