What went wrong in South Carolina’s NCAA loss to Oregon? Lamont Paris explains

Lamont Paris didn’t want to talk about the game walking into the press conference, following South Carolina’s 87-73 loss to Oregon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The game plan itself wasn’t anywhere on his mind. His thoughts were on the players that were leaving, the seniors that said goodbye to basketball and the momentum he created in his second season.

“It hurts to lose, and it hurts more when it’s the last game of the year,” Paris said to open South Carolina’s postgame press conference. “And it hurts the most when you’re surrounded by guys that are a really, really special group of individuals.”

Here’s what else Paris said after the No. 6 seed Gamecocks lost to the 11 seed Ducks and went one and done in their first NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years.

Knowing the impact

The pain of the loss was still the forefront of Paris’ mind, and he recognized it. He knew the magnitude of what this season meant, it just hasn’t hit him yet.

“I think one day here in the next couple days to a week or whatever, all that stuff will start to set in on what we actually did,” Paris said.

Paris’ one-year turnaround featured 26 wins, tying the program record in a single season, and a fight for an SEC regular season title in the final week of the season. He said so much of the focus was on the team’s ability to focus on each game, and he hadn’t spent a ton of time looking around at the bigger picture.

The Gamecocks’ goal this year was to make it to the NCAA Tournament. They did that. It ended a little prematurely, but South Carolina took a last-place preseason finish and turned it into a March Madness at-large bid year.

“When you’re in the midst of it, it’s hard to do that,” Paris said. “Someone’s going to tell you, hey, you did this, you had a winning season, you’re locked into a winning season or you’re locked into a winning SEC season or you got double figure SEC wins first time in however long. They keep coming. They keep coming and you’re just so locked into trying to do what you need to do to try to give the guys this opportunity right here, which was our ultimate goal.”

Paris collected coaching honors throughout the regular and postseason, but at the end of the year, sitting at that podium, he made sure to credit the players.

“I didn’t do a whole bunch,” he said, eyes red, “but they did a lot of things this year.”

Oregon’s high-scoring offense

The little Paris did talk about the game, he praised Oregon’s Jermaine Couisnard for his career-high 40 points. He knew Couisnard was going to be one of the Ducks’ offensive threats, but South Carolina struggled to slow him down the entire game.

South Carolina would make a shot, then Couisnard (a South Carolina transfer) would follow up with a bucket of his own instantly. It went on and on the entire game.

“I wish we had found a way to slow him down better,” Paris said. “But he went 5 for 9 from three, once in transition as he’s dribbling up right in front of us, and 7 for 7 from the free throw line. And he was aggressive, going to the basket. And I think a few of those, I mean he hit a floater against the zone that we fouled him on. He makes tough shots. He doesn’t average 40, but he makes tough shots.”

The Gamecocks broke out their 1-3-1 zone defense in the first half, but Couisnard and N’Faly Dante weren’t phased by the defensive scheme.

Still, the Ducks had the extra energy boost South Carolina didn’t have, thanks to the former Gamecocks’ near-perfect game.

“Our energy wasn’t quite as good in that so we ended up staying man to man,” Paris said. “But he was aggressive and he had a good game. He had a good game.”

The Gamecocks’ core

South Carolina didn’t have the biggest players or the highest-scoring offense or the flashiest roster. Instead, Paris found individuals who bought into his game plans. Reflecting on it, Paris said that’s where it all began this year.

“It started with who they are as individuals,” Paris said. “They’re such a high-quality group of human beings. It would be hard for me to overstate that. That’s relative — I’ve done this a long time. I think it started there. And then I think when you — then it’s how they interact with each other, because you could have great guys, high-quality guys that it just, you know, it just doesn’t translate when it comes to how they mesh together. And it did. It did, in an incredible way.”

Repeating a 26-win season and nearly swiping the regular season title might be a tall task. At least it feels that way just hours after the end of this season. But Paris said if there’s a next step to repeating this season, it starts at the core group of players.

Meechie Johnson, Myles Stute, Jacobi Wright, Collin Murray-Boyles.

Those four, and the rest of the expected returning roster, create the base layer for Paris to redo what he’s done this year.

“On paper, I mean, I like — really like — what our foundation looks like,” Paris said. “And I think more importantly than what those individuals are as basketball players, the culture that we have developed, the way in which we work, the way in which we interact, the way in which we respond to coaching, all that stuff. That stuff could not be in a better place, and so I’m extremely optimistic.”

The transfer portal, incoming freshmen and the chaos of the offseason will all come into play as well. But Paris (who signed a contract extension last week) enjoyed what he accomplished this year, and having that core lay the foundation is the first step to maintaining this newfound success.

“I love it at South Carolina,” he said. “I love our guys. I love the people I’m around, I love the other coaches. I love who I work with, and there was a lot of speculation about a lot of other things that were out there. And so it’s no accident that I ended up right back where I am, and hopefully it displays the level of belief that I have in not only what we’re doing as a staff, but just in who we’re around every day and what I believe that looks like moving forward.”