Another McKie to Play at USC

-->

Another McKie to Play at USC

Gamecock Great B.J. McKie’s son to play basketball for the Gamecocks

USC head coach, Frank Martin, will welcome in his first full recruiting class come August.

            One member of that class will be Justin McKie, the son of the all time scoring leader at USC, B.J. McKie.

            While the McKie name is no stranger to Gamecock fans, the McKie family said that the father and son are not the same type of player.

            “Everybody is going to compare Justin to me.  People think we’re supposed to do the same just because we’re father and son, but every father son are different.  I just want people to look at my son Justin as being Justin,” said B.J. McKie.

            Justin has been ranked as the second best recruit in South Carolina by MaxPreps and fourth best by ESPN.

“I don’t see any pressure.  I just got to go out and use the skills I work on and the skills we work on as a team,” said Justin McKie.

Irmo head coach, Tim Whipple, coached both B.J. and Justin and said Justin has a lot of growing up to do as he moves into the college game.

“It’s going to be a huge adjustment for him.  The physical part of the game is apart of every college game.  I think the staff at South Carolina understands that he will need time to mature, grow, and get stronger,” said coach Tim Whipple.

Justin will end his high school career on Friday at Colonial Life Arena.

The same arena he will play his college ball at, and also has his father’s retired jersey number hanging from ceiling.

“There can’t be [any pressure] because I’ll be playing there for the next 4 years,” said Justin when asked if there was any pressure playing under his father’s retired jersey.

B.J. McKie, is the current an assistant coach at Charleston Southern, and he said that if the Gamecocks showed up on their schedule in the next four years that he will be ready to exploit Justin’s strengths and weaknesses. 

Justin’s high school career will culminate Friday night, as the Yellow Jackets will look to sting Goose Creek for a state title.

McKie hits a 3 pointer.

 McKie drives in the lane for the bucket.

 McKie being introduced at Upper State Finals.

 Preparing to take a foul shot.

Getting advice from Coach Whipple.