Fulton established himself as one of the major talents in the Basketball Ireland Super League, helping Belfast Star to their first title in 21 years in the 2019-20 season and being named young player of the year.

He moved to The Wichendon School in Boston before landing a collegiate scholarship with Pennsylvania-based Lafayette University.

The Irish underage international then transferred to Charleston last summer and has embraced the “winning culture” at the college.

Charleston, who are ranked 13th out of the 68 teams this year, will look to go one better in the NCAA Championship after losing in the first round last year against eventual runners-up San Diego State.

Fulton is under no illusions as to how difficult that will be against Alabama, the number four seeds in the tournament.

“I think in Charleston there is a tradition with winning. We’ve had a good year this year, we’ve won 27 and lost seven, but we won our league and conference tournament and it has been a really successful.

“There’s a lot of buzz around the city, everyone is really excited and walking about, you get a bunch of people wishing you luck.

“We’ve got Alabama, who are one of the best teams in the country. They are a good side, they play a good style, really fast, similar to us and we know we have to play well, but we can definitely beat them, he acknowledged.

“We want to win as many games as possible, it would be very special and that is our aspiration.”