She goes by “Gotti” in the South Carolina locker room. And right now, she may be the most feared freshman in the country.
There’s something about March that reveals a player’s true identity. For Agot Makeer, it just took the rest of the world a little longer to notice.
The Thunder Bay, Ontario native has been one of the defining stories of the 2026 NCAA Tournament — a Canadian freshman who spent most of her debut college season navigating injuries and carving out minutes off the bench, only to explode onto the national stage when it mattered most.
On Monday night in Sacramento, Makeer authored the performance of her young career: 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals in 31 minutes as No. 1 seed South Carolina dismantled No. 3 TCU 78-52 in the Elite Eight.
The Gamecocks are headed to their sixth consecutive Final Four. And Gotti got them there.
Makeer was born in Fargo, North Dakota, but grew up in Thunder Bay — a northern Ontario city better known for producing hockey players than basketball stars. She stood out anyway. By the time she was finishing her high school career at Montverde Academy in Florida, she was ranked the sixth-best prospect in the entire 2025 recruiting class, a McDonald’s All-American who had already made her mark on the international stage.
Representing Canada at the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup, she averaged 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, earning a spot on the All-Tournament First Team as Canada won silver. She returned the following year for the U19 World Cup, where Canada finished fourth.
When it came time to choose a college, her final three came down to Michigan State, UConn, and South Carolina. She chose Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks — and in a twist that now feels like destiny, she’ll face the Huskies in the Final Four in Phoenix on Friday night.
College basketball has a way of humbling even the most decorated recruits. Makeer’s rookie season was no exception. A concussion wiped out nearly all of December. A lower leg injury cost her more time in February. Every time she built momentum, something interrupted it. She finished the regular season averaging 5.9 points per game in just over 17 minutes — numbers that barely hinted at what she was capable of.
“I think mentally has been the biggest adjustment,” Makeer said. “My freshman year has been inconsistent — with me being out, in my play and pretty much everything.”
Staley saw the bigger picture even when the production wasn’t there, keeping the faith and keeping the pressure on.
“With Gotti, she was in and out with injuries,” Staley said. “We never stopped thinking about the contributions that Agot can give to us. It’s always like, ‘She’s super talented. When is it going to click?’ And then we just kind of stayed with it, probably even when she didn’t want to stay with it.”
Something clicked in March.
The transformation happened over four elimination games, each one bigger than the last. She opened the tournament with 16 points, three assists, and three steals against Southern. Followed it with 15 points and four steals in a second-round dismantling of USC. Added 10 points and three assists in a Sweet 16 revenge win over Oklahoma — the team that had handed South Carolina one of its three regular season losses. Then came TCU, the Elite Eight, and the best 31 minutes of her college life.
Across those four games, Makeer is averaging 14.8 points, 3.0 assists, and 2.8 steals per game while shooting 55.5 percent from the floor. She was named to the Sacramento Region All-Tournament team. But the numbers only tell part of the story.
Against TCU, with the Gamecocks clinging to a slim lead heading into the fourth quarter, it was Makeer who helped slam the door. Two of her three steals sparked a decisive third-quarter run, and she and Joyce Edwards — who finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds — combined for the first 12 points of the fourth as South Carolina outscored the Horned Frogs 29-11 to put it away. She also played a significant role in limiting TCU star Olivia Miles, who shot an inefficient 6-of-20 from the field despite finishing with 18 points.
The mindset shift, Makeer says, started before the tournament even began.
“Starting in the SEC Tournament I just started approaching games differently,” she said. “It wasn’t just one-dimensional thinking. I just wanted to do whatever I can to get the team to win.”
Staley had been telling anyone who would listen. After the second round she labeled Makeer the team’s X-Factor — a description that now feels like an understatement. All-American guard Raven Johnson offered the most pointed endorsement of all.
“‘Gotti’ is the X-factor of this team,” Johnson said. “She’s a silent killer. She’s not afraid of nobody. Her confidence is through the roof through this tournament and it’s showing.”
Makeer isn’t the first Canadian to thrive in a South Carolina uniform. Laeticia Amihere, the London, Ontario native, was a cornerstone of the Gamecocks’ 2021-22 national championship team. Like Amihere, Makeer brings length, versatility, and a team-first mentality that fits seamlessly into what South Carolina demands. She’s now writing her own chapter in that tradition — and depending on how Friday night goes in Phoenix, it could be the most memorable one yet.
UConn arrives undefeated and dangerous. For Makeer, it’s also deeply personal — the Huskies were one of the schools she nearly chose thirteen months ago. Now she’ll face them on the sport’s biggest stage, as the player nobody fully anticipated, emerging at exactly the right moment.
“You got to go pound for pound,” Staley said, “and be unafraid playing against an undefeated team.”
Unafraid. That’s the word her teammates use for Gotti too. Canada has been watching Agot Makeer grow for years — through Thunder Bay gyms, through international tournaments, through a freshman season that tested her in every way imaginable. The rest of the basketball world is only now catching up.
She’s been ready for this moment longer than anyone realized.
