The NCAA placed the South Carolina men's basketball program on probation for two years on Thursday for a former assistant coach's role in a far-reaching bribery scandal.

Lamont Evans, who worked at the school for four seasons from 2012-16, admitted in 2019 to accepting bribes to steer players to certain financial advisors and sports agents.

The Gamecocks avoided a potential postseason ban, and head coach Frank Martin was not named in any of the NCAA allegations.

"As I have said throughout my entire career, I lead my program with transparency, an open-door policy and with integrity -- it is in my heart and it is at the core of who I am," Martin said in a statement released by the school. "We move forward, and I'm thankful to have this situation behind us."

The NCAA accepted South Carolina's self-imposed sanctions, which included a reduction in unofficial visits from prospects and a six-week ban on telephone recruiting.

"Once we became aware of this situation, we were proactive in determining what happened and worked in cooperation with the Department of Justice and the NCAA," athletic director Ray Tanner said in a statement. "The NCAA's acceptance of our self-imposed sanctions validates our commitment and the work done by our compliance staff, administration and coaches."

The federal charges against Evans stemmed from an undercover FBI investigation that also swept up three other assistant coaches in September 2017 -- Arizona's Emmanuel "Book" Richardson, Southern California's Tony Bland and Auburn's Chuck Person.

Evans was sentenced to three months in prison in June 2019.

--Field Level Media