2025-26 USC Upstate Preview
The 2025-26 Big South Hoops Hub Preview of USC Upstate
USC Upstate
Background and 24-25 Recap:
Entering in as a journey man coach, but first time Division 1 Head Coach. Marty Richter was entering the hardest job so far of his career, having to bring in basically a whole new team and he did a very good job. Two star freshmen with Carmelo Adkins and Mister Dean, JUCO and D2 studs like Karmani Gregory and Brit Harris, resulting in one of the best first seasons for a coach in USC Upstate history.
Now a new challenge comes to Richter, although one he is well accustomed to, rebuilding. Richter was one of the top JUCO coaches earlier in his career, and you have to rebuild almost every year there. JUCO is also one of Richter’s main sources of talent with over 8 of his rostered players having JUCO experience. Richter also targets prep/OTE kids have 3 Prep/OTE players on the roster, Richter should be looking ahead to another leap towards the ultimate goal of a Big South championship.
Returning Players:
G: Karmani Gregory
One of Richter’s main hidden gem finds coming from the JUCO ranks, Gregory really showed some good moments last season at USC Upstate. Across 32 games at USC Upstate last season, Gregory averaged over 11 PPG and nearly 4 APG but was limited due to being very inefficient, only shooting 40% from the field, 27% from behind the arc, and 64% from the Free Throw Line.
At Florida Southwestern as a RS Freshman, Gregory was a very good fringe starter playing 20 games, starting in 9 of those. In those 20 games, Gregory averaged 9.3 PPG with over 35% shooting from behind the arc, while also having 2.6 APG with 1.6 RPG.
Awards/Notable Facts:
During the 22-23 season, Gregory took his redshirt at Florida Southwestern
2024-25 Big South All Academic Team
G: Chico Johnson
After redshirting one season with Coach Richter at Drake, Chico followed Marty to Upstate and had a pretty solid freshman season coming mostly off the bench. Chico averaged 4.9 PPG and 1.6 APG in 32 games for the Spartans, starting 9 of those 32 games. Chico showed very nice flashes with 5 double digits games including 16 in the second game of the season vs Piedmont.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Held offers from Akron, Kent State, EMU, Bowling Green, Ohio and Toledo before committing to Drake.
Four Star Recruit according to ESPN.
G: Carmelo Adkins
One of two former Diamond Doves players on the roster, Adkins came over in Richter’s first year after originally being committed to West Virginia before flipping after their new staff came in. In his freshman campaign at Upstate, Adkins started 25 of 32 games for the Spartans averaging 10.1 PPG and 4.8 RPG with over 33% shooting from behind the arc. Adkins really closed out the season well with 5 of his last 9 games having double digit points, including a double double against Winthrop with 17 points and 11 rebounds along with 4 assists.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Earned 2024-25 Big South All Freshman Team Honors
Ranked as the 3rd highest USC Upstate Recruit, and highest besides the 2019 recruiting class.
F: Kanye Jones
After what seemed to be an amazing start of the season for Kanye with 6 point vs NC State and 10 points with just over 60 seconds left against Piedmont, it all came unraveled with an injury ending his season. Before coming to Upstate, Kanye Jones played at Buffalo where across two seasons for the Bulls, Jones averaged 3.7 PPG and 1.1 RPG but excelled during his second season at Buffalo where he averaged 8 PPG and 2.9 RPG across 9 games for the Bulls.
Jones began his career at Boston College where during his freshman season, Jones averaged 1.9 PPG and 0.7 APG across 30 games for the Eagles. Jones did see some big playing time in spurts at Boston College including 22 minutes against Dartmouth in which he scored a season high 12 points, along with playing 22 minutes vs Florida State later in the season.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Held offers from Charleston Southern, Towson, Elon and others before going to Boston College.
Also held an offer from Drake during Coach Richter’s tenure at Drake.
F: Isaiah Skinner
Returning for his senior season for USC Upstate, Isaiah Skinner showed lots of promise last season. While Skinner only averaged 3.7 PPG and 2.8 RPG, he had some amazing performances like against UNC Asheville and Winthrop where he had 9 points and 11 points in each game. Skinner also performed well against Iowa, in front of a very large contingent of his family.
Before coming to USC Upstate, Skinner was a JUCO Star at Mt. San Jacinto College in Skinner’s home state of California. Across 3 seasons (one being a medical redshirt), Skinner averaged 16.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 2.3 APG with over 30% shooting behind the arc. Skinner was also a pivotal player on Mt San Jacinto’s 27-4 season in the 23-24 season, eventually losing in the Southern California Regional Final.
Awards/Notable Facts:
2023-24 3C2A First Team All State
2023-24 Inland Empire All Conference First Team
F: Breylin Garcia
One of the best stories in the Big South, Breylin moved to the US at 17 years old, not knowing a lick of English to attend Life Christian HS, then Daytona State College, and now had found a home at USC Upstate. At Upstate this past season, Garcia really was a star that got outshadowed by others, Breylin averaged 8.5 PPG and 5 RPG before getting injured and ending his season in early Feburary. Breylin played his best basketball near the end of the season with over 10 PPG in 5 of his last 8 full games.
Before his time at USC Upstate, Garcia was a star forward at top JUCO program Daytona State College. In his freshman and sophomore seasons at Daytona State, Garcia saw substantial playing time starting 39 of 59 games across the two seasons. In both seasons Garcia averaged over 11 PPG and 6 RPG, with a slight jump from 11.2 PPG to 12.9 PPG and 6.2 RPG to 6.7 RPG from his freshman to sophomore seasons.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Member of the Dominican Republic U15 and U16 teams in 2018 and 2019.
2023-24 Second Team All Citrus Conference
2022-23 Second Team All Central Conference
F: Nic Book
The last returner for Marty Richter’s squad is the big man from Christchurch, New Zealand, Nic Book. Nic is coming off a freshman season where as mostly a bench player with 9 starts across the season in which he averaged 3.7 PPG and 4 RPG but really showed some flashes. In his first two games of the season he had 14 and 10 points in each game, his own double digit point games of the season, while also pulling in 9 boards in both games.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Came to notoriety after dunking on star forward and Kansas commit Flory Bidunga in a HS game.
Played on Team New Zealand for U16 and U17 basketball
Incoming Transfers:
G: Tyler Smith - Trinity Valley CC
Coming off a national championship playing under former New Mexico State Head Coach Greg Heiar, Tyler Smith is hoping to bring some hardware home to Spartansburg. Tyler Smith began his career at Mineral Area Community College in Missouri, where as a freshman was a very pivotal bench piece averaging 8.2 PPG along with 2.4 RPG and 2.4 APG in 32 games, 3 of those being starts.
After Coach Heiar moved on to Trinity Valley, Tyler Smith chose to follow Coach Heiar and it paid off, starting all but one of his 35 games for Trinity Valley and averaging 10.1 PPG, 4.8 APG, and 3.4 RPG and only suffering 3 losses all season en route to a JUCO national title, the first in Trinity Valley CC history.
Awards/Notable Facts:
2024-25 NJCAA D1 JUCO National Champion
Held offers from Stonehill, Alcorn State and EIU before committing to USC Upstate.
G: Mason Bendinger - Salt Lake CC
One of the best JUCO scorers in the country, Mason is hoping to put a spark out there for Upstate, after ending up being a Top 20 scorer in all of JUCO last season. During Mason’s freshman season at Salt Lake, he averaged 7.9 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 0.8 APG coming off the bench, having only started 5 of his 34 games that season. In two of those 5 starts against Community Christian College, Mason had 31 and 26 points each. In his sophomore season, Mason exploded with 17.5 PPG, 3.6 RPG and 1.5 APG including a 45 point outing against Western Nebraska CC.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Ranked as the 150th player in the Rivals JUCO Top 150, held an offer from Cal Baptist and took visits to Green Bay and Pacific before committing to USC Upstate
JUCO Teammate to fellow USC Upstate player Coen Collier
G: Learic Davis - Milwaukee
The lone D1 addition for USC Upstate was Milwaukee transfer, Learic Davis. During his two seasons at Milwaukee, Learic was mostly a bench player, only starting two of his 51 games, all of those starts coming as a freshman. In his most recent season, Learic played in 18 games for the Panthers, averaging 2.2 PPG, 0.7 RPG and 0.3 APG but showed promise with 12 points against North Central College, along with 11 points against Lakeland. Learic showed this same promise during his freshman year with 10 points against Cleveland State. Learic began his college career at Tennessee State but took his redshirt season seeing no playing time.
Awards/Notable Facts:
3 Star Recruit in HS according to 247 Sports with offers from Texas A&M and Robert Morris
F: Jafeth Martinez - Florida Southwestern
One of the more famous additions for USC Upstate, is Jafeth Martinez from Florida Southwestern, but don’t let social media fool you, Jafeth is a baller. Martinez began his career at South Georgia Tech where as freshman he averaged 5.4 PPG and 5 RPG including a 3 game stretch with 14, 15 and 10 points respectively.
After that successful season, Jafeth moved up in competition to Florida Southwestern where he averaged 7.7 PPG and 7 RPG including an 8 game stretch from Jan 25th to Feb 26th where in 10 games, Jafeth had 8 games in double digit points and 5 games with double digit rebounds.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Has 82,000 followers on Instagram as a basketball influencer.
First Honduras born player to receive a scholarship at the D1 level.
Played for the Honduras National Team in the 2024 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
C: Coen Collier - Salt Lake CC
The final transfer addition for Marty Richter and his squad is one of the few 7’er’s in the conference, Coen Collier. The JUCO center spent both of his junior college seasons at Salt Lake CC, playing alongside Mason Bendinger. During Coen’s freshman season at SLCC, Coen played in 31 games only making two starts averaging 2.8 PPG and 4.6 RPG. In his sophomore season, Coen took a real leap averaging 5.5 PPG and 6.1 RPG while also being serviceable shooting, hitting over 33% from 3PT land.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Played alongside Mason Bendinger at Salt Lake CC.
Incoming Freshmen:
G: Dylan Novak - Overtime Elite (Diamond Doves)
Likely the most famous player to ever enter the Big South conference, Dylan Novak is a tiktok star, but he isn’t just a Tiktok dancer, he can hoop. Novak first began his high school career at Gilbert North in Arizona where he was a star freshman and sophomore player averaging 16.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 4.4 APG during his freshman season and 21.6 PPG, 4 RPG and 4.5 APG during his sophomore year. This amazing performance drew the eyes of Overtime Elite, where he has been the past two seasons for the Diamond Doves. This past season in OTE, Novak averaged 7.7 PPG, 2.7 RPG and 4.9 APG.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Has over 350k Instagram followers and 50k+ on TikTok
G: TJ Lewis - Blythewood (SC)
The final freshman for USC Upstate comes from nearby Blythewood, SC in TJ Lewis. In his most recent season, TJ filled up that stat sheet leading the state of SC in FT’s Made, 3PT’s made, and was 5th in SC in PPG with 25.8 PPG. TJ also had 5.4 RPG and 1.6 APG helping lead his Blythewood HS team to a State finals appearance before losing to Ridge View.
Awards/Notable Facts:
Had a 5.1 GPA during his High School tenure
Selected to the 2024-25 5A All-State Team
Roster Prediction:
Roster Thoughts/Ratings:
Guards: C+
Karmani Gregory: One of the best, if not the best returning true PG for this season, keeping Gregory is big. If Gregory can bring the turnovers down, keep the playmaking ability as is, and even gain the efficiency he had at the JUCO level, Gregory could very well be an All Conference level guard.
Carmelo Adkins: I love Adkins as a true breakout candidate, a player who was overshadowed by an unreal freak of a player in Mister Dean. Adkins really had a case for Big South FOY if Mister Dean was not there, and when Dean missed the Iowa game. Adkins stepped up with 14 on very efficient shooting. Now Adkins can become that main star if he’s ready for that role.
Tyler Smith: Tyler Smith is really interesting, despite being a national championship roster, and putting up very good stats, Smith went very under recruited and unranked. I think Smith really challenges Gregory for the starting position, Smith seems to be more secure with the ball, even if Smith doesn’t start, a true ball handler with very good security is something rare at the mid major level.
Forwards: C-
Breylin Garcia: One of the better players for USC Upstate last season before having his season derailed by injury, Breylin Garcia should once again be another impact player for Upstate. Breylin was playing his best ball right before the injury and that gives me more of a reason to see another solid season out of Garcia.
Learic Davis: I think Learic Davis is where Upstate’s success will run though. Many have been very excited with this addition, me included. I see Learic, at least when he entered CBB, 2 seasons ago, as a more polished Mister Dean on the offensive end, and that is what Upstate needs, a more polished shooter than Dean with the same talent, if Davis lives up to the hype, Marty Richter could be in for a gold mine of a season.
Jafeth Martinez: Upstate finished 338th in defensive efficiency, Jafeth will change that. Jafeth ended last season in Top 10 in FSW history in rebounds and blocks, during his time with Honduras in 2024, he averaged over 2 BPG, along with 7.8 RPG. If Jafeth averaged the amount of blocks at Upstate, that he did during the FIBA Pre Qualifiers, he would cement his name in Upstate history with the most career blocks per game. I can’t guarantee he will break the record, but he will be a big benefit for Upstate.
Nic Book: Nic Book returns for another go around at USC Upstate after a pretty successful end to last year for him seeing almost 15-20 mins per game near the end of the season, mostly due to the injury of Breylin Garcia. Nic is a good bench piece who has pretty good athleticism but I don’t see him being much more than a bench big man.
Bench/Reserves: C-
Thoughts: The guard depth is pretty nice for what I expected compared to last season, I think the additions on Novak and Lewis, both can play ball in their own right, Kanye Jones looked good before his injury and Chico Johnson looked good and was a person who Marty clearly has a lot of trust in as a player bringing him over from Drake. Mason Bendinger provides a flamethrowing ability off the bench if he is in fact coming off the bench.
The forward depth also is a pretty good strong point with Skinner, Kanye can stretch to the 3-4 if needed, then adding Coen Collier as center is really big, especially when many teams don’t have a 7’er to compete downlow with Collier, but outside of Skinner and Collier, there is question marks as Skinner hasn’t played much at the D1 level and Collier wasn’t the biggest stat sheet filler at Salt Lake CC.