Tough times in Charleston: Gamecocks drop third straight game, fall to Furman
The last time Lamont Paris and Bob Richey opposed each other, Paris’ Chattanooga Mocs team ended Furman’s 2021-22 season on an overtime buzzer-beater in the Southern Conference tournament.
The win lifted the Mocs to the NCAA tournament for the first time in Paris’ five years as head coach. The win, to some degree, might’ve also won Paris the South Carolina men’s head coaching job.
Both Paris and Richey — a six-year head coach of the Paladins — interviewed for the position vacated after Frank Martin’s firing after last season. Paris, obviously, came away with the job.
On Sunday, the two teams tangled on the final day of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic — and Richey and the Paladins (3-2) got a measure of revenge, beating the Gamecocks 79-60. The loss was a third straight for the Gamecocks (2-3), who leave the Charleston Classic winless.
After the game, Richey said he had some flashbacks to last year’s buzzer beater in the SoCon, but he did his best to separate the two. He heaped praise on Paris after the game and the trajectory he’s on with the Gamecocks.
“I’ve had battles with Lamont for five years,” Richey said. “And Lamont’s gonna do a great job at South Carolina. He’s just getting started. Nobody wants to hear this in today’s time, but building a program takes time, and the easy thing to do is to look at it five games in.
“Lamont and his staff know what they’re doing. But this thing’s going to take a little time.”
Here’s what went wrong for USC.
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers
A disturbing trend for the Gamecocks throughout the Charleston Classic is how carelessly they handled the ball, with Paris going so far as to say he was “befuddled” by the team’s passing in the team’s loss to Colorado State.
The passing didn’t improve on Friday, and it remained shaky Sunday. The Gamecocks started off hot offensively, leading the Paladins 11-4 early. Then the wheels came off.
Midway through the first half, Furman went on a 19-2 run over a six-plus minute stretch. During that same stretch, the Gamecocks had five turnovers — trying to force plays on offense and throwing the ball away in the process.
USC went on more than a 5:30 minute scoring drought before Meechie Johnson made a wide-open 3-pointer to snap it. Though the Gamecocks showed some zest in fighting back before halftime, their spree of turnovers and loose ball-handling put them in a deep hole.
For the game, the Gamecocks turned the ball over 17 times, and the Paladins scored 23 points off of those turnovers. In contrast, USC scored just four points off of Furman turnovers.
Paris credited Furman’s aggressive defense for some of those turnovers, but he also was critical of USC’s lack of care with the ball.
“Sometimes it’s just pure sloppiness again with the ball,” Paris said. “I think if you go back through history, I don’t know how many teams can be successful turning the ball over as many times as we do. So that impacts your ability to score. Those are wasted possessions.”
Jackson and Carter produce ... but who else?
As has been the case throughout the weekend in Charleston, phemon freshman GG Jackson and veteran guard Chico Carter Jr. both provided the bulk of the offensive production Sunday.
Both players made a pair of 3-pointers and matched each other with 12 points each in the first half to keep the Gamecocks close. Jackson finished with 19 points and Carter with 17.
But the rest of USC’s lineup struggled to generate any kind of offense. No other player scored more than seven points. In fact, Jackson and Carter combined to score 15 of USC’s 22 field goals. Those two players were South Carolina’s offense. Even with the Gamecocks at full health after the return of Johnson from an ankle injury, players not named Jackson and Carter made seven of 23 field-goal attempts (31.8%) and two of 13 3-point attempts.
To add injury to insult, Carter suffered what appeared to be a left ankle injury in the final two minutes of the game, and he didn’t re-enter. Paris said after the game there’s no word yet on his status.
Early season adversity
With an entirely new coaching staff and nearly an entirely new roster, this is the first time we’ve seen these Gamecocks experience adversity. Riding three straight losses, the Gamecocks have about a month to sort themselves out before SEC play begins.
Clearly, Paris and his staff are still trying to find the right lineup combinations and rotations. They’re looking for the right moments to insert reserves like guard Jacobi Wright and forward Josh Gray, and they’re still sprinkling in lengthy freshmen Zachary Davis and Daniel Hankins-Sanford.
The Gamecocks won’t play again until Friday at home against USC Upstate, giving them a few days to chew over video and make adjustments.
“I think growth in general happens when stress occurs in almost any capacity,” Paris said “This, of course, was an adverse set of circumstances for our guys. Not only the fact that you lost three games here and didn’t play as well as you wanted to, but we got injuries that are still out there.
“And so it will be a test to see where we go. I think attitude is also what allows growth to take place. I think you have to have the mindset of growth.”
Next four USC MBB games
This story was originally published November 20, 2022 at 12:20 PM.
