James Reese remembers playing on South Carolina’s campus in high school, and now he’ll do it in his final season of college basketball.

Reese—who spent plenty of summers playing games during summer team camps at South Carolina while at AC Flora—never got an offer or an opportunity to play for the Gamecocks right out of high school.

He’ll get his chance now, committing this week as the Gamecocks’ latest commitment out of the transfer portal.

“It was unreal, honestly. I used to tell my mom after my teams used to play all these team tournaments at USC, ‘Mom, I think I’m going to get an offer from USC. I just had 20 today in front of Frank Martin.’ For him to actually hit me, it was a long time coming. It was something I always wanted,” Reese said.

“To have it actually happen, I’m grateful for it and don’t want to mess it up. I’m not trying to feel too happy. It’s a business trip for me even though I’m coming home.”

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Reese committed Wednesday afternoon to South Carolina, announcing his intentions to spend his final year at his hometown school he grew up wanting an offer from.

He started his career at Buffalo, where he played one season before transferring to Odessa College where he averaged 16 points per game.

From there Reese landed at North Texas—starting every game the last two seasons—and averaged 9.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting 43 percent from the field and 35.4 from three.

When he entered the transfer portal again as a graduate transfer, Martin and the Gamecocks were one of plenty of schools to reach out, but being from Columbia held some extra weight and he committed about a week later.

“When I got the call I had to look at my phone two times like, ‘Man, is it really real?’” Reese said. “It’s something I won’t forget and will hold on to for a long time.”

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Reese has been part of two NCAA Tournament teams, including this year where he and the Mean Green made the field and ultimately beat Purdue in the first round before losing to Villanova.

His tournament experience—he averaged 11.5 points and 37 minutes in two NCAA tourney games this year—was one of the reasons the Gamecocks wanted to bring him in as well.

“It’s not about the experience of playing in it. I know the little things you have to do to get to that point. It’s not even about playing in the game. It about the little stuff I know we have to do to get to that point,” Reese said. “That’s the stuff I’ll be able to tell guys and show guys.”

Reese, a 6-foot-4 guard, averaged 10.9 points and 4.3 rebounds last season and shot 41.8 from the field, 34.3 from three.

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“I’m like the energy bunny out there. I don’t get tired. I can shoot, unlimited range. A part of my game I feel like people don’t get to see is I’m very athletic,” Reese said. “I’m talking about neck on the rim athletic. That’s just really me. You’re going to be excited. You’re going to jump out of your seat and see a lot of buckets.”