South Carolina became the sixth Division I men's basketball program to receive an NCAA notice of allegations related to the federal government's investigation into bribes and other corruption in the sport.
South Carolina officials confirmed on Thursday that the university received a notice of allegations on Jan. 31 that charges the Gamecocks with one Level I violation (the most serious) related to former assistant coach Lamont Evans accepting at least $5,865 in bribes from agent runner Christian Dawkins in 2015-16.
Dawkins allegedly paid Evans to help set up meetings with then-Gamecocks star PJ Dozier and his family. Dawkins was working for NBA agent Andy Miller of ASM Sports at the time.
"The University of South Carolina has received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA related to a former men's basketball assistant coach. As expected, this does not involve any institutional, current coaching staff or former or current student-athlete eligibility issues. We will continue to defend our program and institution in this process with the NCAA," South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said in a statement.
Evans admitted to federal prosecutors that he also accepted bribes while coaching at Oklahoma State in 2016-17. The Cowboys announced in November that they had received a notice of allegations related to Evans' misconduct.
In January 2019, Evans pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to influence his players to sign with certain agents, business managers and financial planners. A federal judge sentenced him in June to three months in prison. The judge also ordered him to surrender $22,000 and perform 100 hours of community service.
Evans was one of four college basketball assistant coaches arrested in September 2017 after the federal government's three-year investigation into the sport. Federal agents also arrested assistants at Arizona, Auburn and USC. Each coach eventually pleaded guilty to felony bribery charges.
In May, a federal jury convicted Dawkins of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery, and former Adidas consult Merl Code was convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery. They are appealing their convictions.
Along with Oklahoma State, officials at Kansas, NC State, TCU and USC have acknowledged receiving NCAA notices of allegations.
Sources previously told ESPN that the NCAA is also investigating men's basketball programs at Arizona, Auburn, Creighton, Louisville and LSU.