Men's Basketball . October 14, 2024

Murray-Boyles Tabbed Preseason Third-Team All-SEC by Media

South Carolina Athletics

Sophomore forward first Gamecock since AJ Lawson (2020-21) to earn Preseason All-SEC accolades ; Gamecocks picked to finish 11th out of 16 teams

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The league office announced its results from the media preseason poll on Monday. South Carolina was picked to finished 11^th in what is now a 16-team Southeastern Conference with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma.

Voting was done by a select panel of both SEC and national media members.

Sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles was selected Preseason Third Team All-SEC. The Columbia, S.C., native is the first Gamecock to earn Preseason All-SEC recognition since AJ Lawson when he was selected Preseason Second Team All-SEC in 2020-21.

Murray-Boyles is coming off a solid freshman campaign in which he saw action in 28 games, starting the final 19 for the Gamecocks. He averaged 10.4 points, 5.7 rebounds (led team), 1.8 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per game en route to earning SEC All-Freshman honors. He shined down the stretch in league play a season ago, highlighted by a 31-point outing in a double-digit win over Vanderbilt (2/10/24) and a 24-point performance against Arkansas (3/14/24) in the second of round of the SEC Tournament that helped Carolina to its first win in the conference tournament since 2018.

He shot 59.7 percent (117-196) from the floor to lead the team and also had a team-high 21 dunks. Murray-Boyles scored in double-figures in 10 of the team’s final 13 games last season.

Alabama was picked to win the league with Mark Sears selected as the Preseason SEC Player of the Year.

The Gamecocks open the season Monday, November 4, at home against North Florida with a 7 p.m. (ET) tipoff on SEC Network+. Conference play is set to begin Saturday, January 4. The 2025 SEC Tournament will be March 12-16 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.

Season tickets are on sale now with more information available here. Single-game tickets will go on sale to the general public Friday at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster here.

Head coach Lamont Paris, Murray-Boyles and graduate forward Nick Pringle will represent South Carolina at SEC Tipoff ’25 in Birmingham, Ala. tomorrow. The Gamecocks will be onsite from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (ET) with live appearances on the SEC Network from 11:05-11:20 a.m. and SiriusXM SEC Radio (channel 374) from 10:30-11 a.m.

2024-25 SEC PRESEASON MEDIA POLL RESULTS

First Team All-SEC

Mark Sears – Alabama

Johni Broome – Auburn

Walter Clayton Jr. – Florida

Zakai Zeigler – Tennessee

Wade Taylor IV – Texas A&M

Second Team All-SEC

Grant Nelson – Alabama

Jonas Aidoo – Arkansas

Johnell Davis – Arkansas

Matthew Murrell – Ole Miss