Big South Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

24. Warren Gillis

Gillis is a 6’3 guard from Philadelphia who found himself a role while at Coastal Carolina. Playing under longtime head coach Cliff Ellis, he’d become a vital piece of the puzzle for the Chanticleers, on campus between 2011 and 2015. Sticking with the limits of this article, we won’t consider his underclassman seasons, but his final two years are when things got good anyways.

During that junior season, Gillis took a step forward on the offensive end, averaging 14.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game, helping Coastal Carolina to a 21-win season. Most importantly, he had 22 points in the Big South title game against Winthrop and helped lead the program to the NCAA Tournament, falling in the first round to Virginia. The following year saw Gillis repeat the feat, putting up decent offensive numbers and helping get the Chanticleers back to the Big Dance, this time with a 22-point effort in a Tourney loss to Wisconsin, the eventual national runners-up.

Gillis was Second Team All-Big South in those two seasons and was the conference’s Tournament MVP as a junior. He was involved in nearly every aspect of this Coastal Carolina unit, and was among the conference’s best in points, assists, and steals throughout that time. Anyone playing in multiple NCAA Tournament games from the Big South is doing something right and Gillis certainly went out on a high note.