South Carolina fills open scholarship with grad transfer big man

[FeatheredCock]

South Carolina fills open scholarship with grad transfer big man

May 17, 2019

South Carolina has ended its offseason quest for an experienced big man.

It didn’t take long.

Graduate transfer Micaiah Henry has committed to the Gamecocks, giving Frank Martin’s program a 6-foot-9, 235-pound forward with three college seasons under his belt. The former Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle averaged 9.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game (second-best in the Ohio Valley Conference) last year for TTU.


Henry was first contacted by USC after Felipe Haase entered the transfer portal in late April. Martin visited Henry in Tennessee soon thereafter, leading to Henry returning the favor and visiting USC May 6-8.

 

[ConwayGamecock]

Fantastic get! Offense will be the last thing we'll need from Henry. We are sorely lacking in rim protection and rebounds - we were lacking in that last season even with Silva on the team, honestly - and those are the top assets Henry will bring to the table. He is immediately more athletic, stronger, bigger (not as tall, but wider and more muscular), and more physical than Kotsar in the paint, and miles ahead of where Haase was last season for us.

The only question will be can he pick up the defensive schemes quick enough to be an immediate asset for the season, or will he have to be gradually worked into the rotation. But IMO this is a strong addition to the roster, in terms of immediate skill-set need....

 

[Gamecock Man]

I think this will be an upgrade but I'm not sure about his rebounding since he only averaged 4.7 per game. He seems to have made a lot of progress between his soph. and Jr. year.I think this will give us the chance to bring Wildens Leveque  along slowly, especially early in the year when Freshmen are learning to adjust to the college game.

 

[doublea1971]

Fantastic get! Offense will be the last thing we'll need from Henry. We are sorely lacking in rim protection and rebounds - we were lacking in that last season even with Silva on the team, honestly - and those are the top assets Henry will bring to the table. He is immediately more athletic, stronger, bigger (not as tall, but wider and more muscular), and more physical than Kotsar in the paint, and miles ahead of where Haase was last season for us.

The only question will be can he pick up the defensive schemes quick enough to be an immediate asset for the season, or will he have to be gradually worked into the rotation. But IMO this is a strong addition to the roster, in terms of immediate skill-set need....

I'm happy that he is a Gamecock.  I've got two concerns with Henry right now: 1.) He was a foul-prone guy at Tennessee Tech, much like Chris Silva.  Hopefully Frank can get him to keep his hands where they need to be.  (He had a LOT of practice with Chris, so he should be used to it by now).  2.) His turnover numbers are a little higher than i'd like to see for a big man.  That's not as big of an issue if he's not being asked to score a lot.  Nonetheless, taking the ball strong to the hoop without putting it on the floor too much (a la Kotsar) needs to be a point of emphasis with Henry.