Cooper comes in from the cold, commits to Gamecocks

[FeatheredCock]

Cooper comes in from the cold, commits to Gamecocks​

SPORTSTALK / March 29, 2023

Former Dorman High School guard Ta’Lon Cooper (6’4″) has committed to South Carolina following his exit from Minnesota. Cooper announced his pledge on Twitter Wednesday morning. Cooper won two state championships under Thomas Ryan at Dorman before committing to Morehead State out of high school. Cooper played at Morehead State for three seasons before transferring to Minnesota. Last season with the Gophers, Cooper averaged 9.8 points and 6.3 assists per game while shooting nearly 38% from the 3-point line.

Cooper had recently taken an official visit to USC and gave a positive review following the trip, “The coaching staff and the players that I met were all good people. The facility is really nice. Nothing like coming back home and playing in front of the home crowd. It’s only an hour away. Everything about the visit was great.”

Cooper’s 6.8 assists per game placed him seventh in the country last season.

 

[kingofnerf]

Ta'Lon Cooper - Men's Basketball - University of Minnesota Athletics

Ta'Lon Cooper (55) Guard - PRONUNCIATION Your browser does not support HTML5 audio. ...

gophersports.com

Unlike most guys in the portal these days, he was a starter at both MN and Morehead State. Both a starter and team captain for the Gophers this past season.

2022-23 SEASON I JUNIOR SEASON
Team captain • ranked third on the team in scoring (9.8) and held a team-best 196 assists • ranked second in Minnesota history with 196 assists and 6.32 assists per game • only Gopher to start in every game during the 2022-23 season and recorded 1137 minutes played

PRIOR TO MINNESOTA
Played 95 career games and 52 starts for Morehead State • averaged 29 minutes, 8.1 points, 4.3 assists and shot 41 percent from the field during his Eagles career • was a First-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference in 2022 after he averaged 33.9 minutes, 9.1 points and 5.9 assists • his 202 assists last season ranked second all-time in program history, while his 5.9 apg ranked seventh in the NCAA.

He looks like a solid pick-up for Lamont to me.

 

[GMB2USC23]

A pass first, takes care of the ball, big game experience, coming home big gaurd that plays defense... nice get, he played AAU with Zion

 

[kingofnerf]

Lamont is now past his first SEC season where he beat UK at Rupp.

It was a disappointing season for sure, but he should have a good recruiting season like Shane did last year.

Looking forward to seeing who else Lamont brings on board in the coming months.

 

[AikenGameFan]

Like others, I think Cooper will be a big plus. I see him kind of like Hayden Brown. Loads of experience ready to really turn it on and also a big help to all the younger players.