Paris Completes Roster for 2026-27 Season

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Head coach Lamont Paris completed his roster with the addition of three players on Friday afternoon. Mathias Alessanco (Joinville, Brazil), Nasir Hines (Palm Beach State College) and Ford Wilder (Sumter, S.C.) all signed financial aid agreements to continue their playing careers at South Carolina this fall.

The trio completes a 15-man roster for Gamecock basketball in 2026-27 that will feature 12 newcomers and nine who have already signed: forward Aleksas Bieliauskas (Wisconsin), guard Shane Blakeney (Drexel), forward Juan Fernández (Santa Fe, Argentina), guard Davion Hannah (Alabama), forward Camden Heide (Texas), guard Marcus Johnson (Garfield Heights High School), forward Hugo López (Madrid, Spain), guard Kory Mincy (George Mason) and forward Jakub Nečas (Duquesne).

Hines is a 6-10 forward who transfers in after one season at Palm Beach State College. He appeared in 31 games and averaged 2.1 points and 1.2 rebounds per contest in limited action, shooting 58.0% (29-of-50) from the floor. He helped the Panthers to a 33-3 overall record and a trip to the quarterfinals of the 2026 NJCAA DII Championships. Hines was high school teammates with Johnson at Garfield Heights.

Wilder is a 6-4 guard who prepped at Wilson Hall High School in Sumter, S.C. He scored over 1,300 points, averaging 23.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 steals, 1.5 assists and 1.0 blocks as a senior in 2025-26. A three-sport athlete at Wilson Hall, Wilder played AAU for Upward Stars Pee Dee.

The Gamecocks begin their summer offseason program on Monday which will culminate with a pair of exhibition games at the Baha Mar Summer League Aug. 7-11.

Mathias Alessanco – 6-8, 235 pounds – Joinville, Brazil

• Will take a redshirt season in 2026-27 recovering from a torn ACL suffered in May
• Widely considered the top prospect in Brazil for the class of 2026; became the youngest player to ever play for the Brazil senior national team when he made his debut in November of 2024 at 16-years-old for 2025 FIBA AmeriCup qualifiers against Panama and Uruguay
• In 2025-26, played in 18 regular season games (16 starts) for RWE in Overtime Elite ; helped the squad to the second round of the playoffs after averaging 8.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.0 blocks per game; shot 47.9% from the floor and 36.4% from behind the arc
• Helped Brazil to the bronze medal at the 2026 Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany; averaged 16.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.6 steals per contest; had the second highest efficiency rating (23.9) in the tournament across seven games; had 25 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, four blocks and three steals in a win over Italy
• Competed in the 2025 NBPA Top 100 Camp in Rock Hill, S.C.
• Played for Team Next Gen at the 2025 adidas Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy, which features the best young players from around the globe and future NBA stars; averaged 11.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting 75% from the floor and 57.1% from 3
• Helped lead Next Gen Team Munich to the title at the 2025 Euroleague Basketball Next Generation Tournament; earned a spot on the all-tournament team after averaging 9.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 blocks per game; had 19 points and six rebounds in the championship bout victory over Valencia
• From 2022-25, spent time in Spain playing for Real Betis coming up thru their youth academy; in his final season in 2024-25 playing in Tercera FEB, averaged 17.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game
• Represented Brazil in the 2023 FIBA U16 AmeriCup and the 2024 FIBA U18 AmeriCup
• Earned an invite to the 2022 Jr. NBA Elite Camp in São Paulo

Paris on Alessanco
“Mathias is a very talented young prospect that plays with tremendous poise and pace for a player of his age. He has outstanding basketball instincts and has shown the ability to create offense in a variety of ways. Mathias is the type of player that will generally have some advantage in most of his matchups. While his knee injury was unfortunate, I believe Mathias is equipped with the determination, commitment and discipline required to take full advantage of this next year. He will learn our system, improve his basketball skills and fine tune his body in a way that there is little doubt he will come out on the other side stronger in every facet of the game.”

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