Lamont Paris’ Gamecocks haven’t won a game in a month. Where do they go from here?
This season was billed as a fresh new chapter for the South Carolina men’s basketball team. Yet, with more than a month still to play, the team’s story has already grown stale.
No one expected USC to compete for an NCAA tournament in its first season under head coach Lamont Paris. After a wave of roster turnover, the Gamecocks were picked last in the SEC preseason media poll — and that’s exactly where they sit after eight straight losses. But these Gamecocks (8-16, 1-10 SEC) are not only at the bottom of their conference, they’ve been one of the worst Power Five teams in the country.
There’s no stat that can spin USC’s performance in a positive light. The Gamecocks sit outside the top 300 teams in the country in most statistical categories, including scoring offense (330th nationally) and field-goal percentage (341st), and the Gamecocks sit at No. 239 in Division I basketball in the widely cited analytics website KenPom.com.
Of late, even the celebratory moments have felt hollow. Star freshman GG Jackson went from a hometown hero — the rare Columbia native who stayed in town — to apologizing on social media for a profanity-laced Instagram rant and starting the subsequent game on the bench. Last weekend, the Gamecocks hosted a “Legends Weekend” for the team’s alumni, and the group was noticeably light on players from the last three decades.
Enthusiasm is difficult to drum up for a team that has been a non-factor since conference play began.
That doesn’t mean the program isn’t trying.
“I will tell you that one of the challenges ... is being creative enough to see, can we get some more of our younger guys to get here?” said Carey Rich, a special assistant to Paris, during the team’s legends dinner.
Rich’s job is focused on engaging the community and USC basketball alumni.
“How do we get to a point that we make it a little bit more attractive, a little bit more of a destination so that when that parade comes out, you’re also seeing a bunch of guys that played in the ’90s, a bunch of guys that played in the 2000s?” Rich said. “We’ve kind of missed that boat in the last several years. That’s going to be my personal challenge here. It was tough to do this year with us kind of getting in place.
“When you’re trying to build a program, you get sucked up and sent in so many different directions that oftentimes that’s difficult.”
Unquestionably, the Gamecocks are in the midst of a transitional year. But five other SEC teams also made head coaching changes this offseason, and new coaches like Todd Golden (Florida) and Dennis Gates (Missouri) have their teams in the thick of the SEC race.
The Gamecock fan base isn’t known for patience — just look at Frank Martin’s firing five years after the program’s first-ever Final Four appearance. How would the community react if, say, Paris’ Gamecocks don’t win another game this year? They haven’t won a game since a Jan. 10 road win over Kentucky and are projected as underdogs the rest of the way.
We only have a five-year sample size for Paris as a head coach. In his first two years at Chattanooga, he led the Mocs to a 22-43 record before breaking through with three winning seasons and an NCAA tournament appearance in his fifth year. Can Gamecocks fans stomach that kind of progression here?
As for Paris himself, he hasn’t wavered in his vision for the program and where it’s headed. Unlike his fiery predecessor, Paris comes across as even-keeled after a loss as he does after a win. He still has that new-coach twinkle in his eye. When he talked to alumni during the Legends Weekend, he promised to work the transfer portal and recruiting trail as hard as anyone after the season.
Even during the eight-game losing streak, there have been small bits of progress. After not holding a lead at any point of those first four games, the Gamecocks have at least made the last four games interesting. They had possession of the ball with a chance to tie or hit a buzzer-beater in a two-point loss to Arkansas last weekend. Against Mizzou, the Gamecocks shot a crisp 52% and were neck-and-neck with the Tigers until their shots fell flat in the game’s final minutes.
But are those baby steps enough to satiate a community that’s watching Dawn Staley vie for another national title and Shane Beamer reach bowl games in consecutive years?
Paris knows he’s walking a tightrope between looking toward the future while trying to make the best of the here and now.
“It’s a balancing act,” Paris said. “Because you do have to win games. Your job is to win games, and so you have to prepare to win. ... But at the same time, it’s a mentality that you’re developing. It’s a way of going about your business that you’re developing. It’s a culture that you’re trying to develop. And it’s an interesting dance that you’re doing just because you are trying to win games at all costs.
“But at the same time, I see the future. I’ve been there. I see the future, and I know what it’s going to look like when our expectations have changed and we’re winning on a consistent basis. And so I play the long game as well.”
The long game worked for Paris at Chattanooga. But in Columbia, he has to be careful not to take too long.
Next four USC MBB games
Saturday: at Ole Miss, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)
Feb. 14: vs. Vanderbilt, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
Feb. 18: at LSU, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)
Feb. 22: Alabama, 9 p.m. (ESPN2/ESPNU)
