Gamecocks Land Two Finnish Basketball Commits
Lamont Paris has been extremely active on the recruiting front since his inaugural season as South Carolina's head basketball coach ended back in early March. In the past month and a half, the Gamecocks have landed three proven and productive Division one players in Minnesota's Ta'Lon Cooper, The Citadel's Stephen Clark and most recently Vanderbilt wing Myles Stute.
While the Gamecocks are in the game for several 2024 prospects, more notably Cam Scott, Austin Swartz and KJ Greene Jr., there hadn't been much activity in terms of commitments. That all changed on Thursday morning as the Gamecocks landed two high-potential players out of Finland in guard Morris Ugusuk and forward Okku Federiko.
Both Ugusuk and Federiko played for the OBA u-20 team in Spain's Elite Youth Basketball League, with Ugusuk averaging 7.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in seven contests, while Federiko averaged 10 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game in nine total contests. Morris Ugusuk also saw significant playing time in Finland's 1st Division-A this past basketball season, which saw him average 12.4 points, 4.1 points and 4.7 assists per game all while shooting 49.7 percent from inside the arc and 33 percent from outside the arc.
Federiko can be best described as a modern-day power forward who plays face-up towards the rim, possesses above average ball-handling and court vision, and can be a catch-and-shoot nightmare for opponents around the perimeter. Okku also displays active hands on the defensive end of the floor and the ability to guard his individual matchup all the way out to the perimeter.
Morris Ugusuk, looks to be a combo guard who can both be a sharpshooter from deep, and also facilitate an offense with his ability to take defenders off the dribble and find open teammates at the right time. Ugusuk also told SportsTalk Media Network's Phil Kornblut that he is committed as a part of the 2023 class, meaning he should be in Columbia this coming Fall.
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