NC State lands 6’8 forward from Providence, Greg Gantt Jr. via the transfer portal (w/ highlights)

This offseason is insane.

There are tons of players entering the transfer portal and coaches’ heads are spinning trying to keep up.

Kevin Keatts was on a Zoom call with Jaden Gardner last night, we posted that this morning, and a few hours later. Boom. A commitment. Only it wasn’t from Gardner, it was from Greg Gantt Jr, another big man in the portal.

Here is him announcing it via Instagram…

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A post shared by Greg Gantt Jr. (@yeathatsg)

Gantt Jr. is an interesting player, to say the least. The kid is 6’8, 220lbs from Fayetteville, NC. he was a 4-star prospect a couple of years ago, however, he never really got the opportunity at Providence and now he’s heading to NC State.

Gantt isn’t a post player, he’s more an oversized SF or a stretch 4. He’s a face-up guy with a nice jumper and someone who can extend the defense. In fact, this skillset is exactly what we outlined as the perfect match for this team when we ran our piece on the transfer portal last week.

Take a look at his highschool highlights…

What’s interesting is that Gantt Jr. only averaged 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists last season in 21 minutes per game. He was known as a pretty good shooter in high school, but at Providence he never got it going. He shot 30% as a freshman and 22% this season from beyond the arc.

Gantt actually added some more muscle between his freshman and sophomore season, and he’s an intriguing prospect. He definitely fits within Keatts system and Keatts seems to see something in him that could help unlock his potential.

I wouldn’t look at the stats and jump to a conclusion here. State had a lot of options at the PF position and was able to sell a lot of minutes to whoever was coming in. The fact that he chose Gantt tells you something, and doubting Keatts eye for undiscovered talent would be a mistake. He’s the guy who got commits from Josh Hall (when he was a 3 star) and Jalen Lecque (when he was a 4 star), both skipped college and went straight to the pros. He also scooped up Shakeel Moore last year while no one was paying attention and got both Breon Pass and Terquavion Smith while they were 3 stars and hadn’t exploded yet.

Watching this kid’s highlights, you see that there is raw talent there. Keatts seems to think he can help Gantt get to the next level. Based on his track record, we’re going to believe him.

Welcome aboard, Greg!