How South Carolina MBB win over Clemson provides building block for tough SEC schedule
It took three swings, but South Carolina men’s basketball finally knocked one out of the park.
The Gamecocks landed their first Quad 1 win of the season by toppling rival No. 25 Clemson on Tuesday. After whiffing against then-No. 16 Indiana and then-No. 22 Xavier earlier this year, USC didn’t let this chance slip through its fingers.
And with a marquee win like this comes more than just bragging rights. It also comes with increased confidence.
“It builds real confidence, true confidence,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “And there’s such a thing as fake confidence, false bravado. Feeling like you’re good because somebody told you you’re good. That’s fleeting, that type of confidence.”
This win also gives the Gamecocks something more tangible: a key bullet point on their NCAA Tournament résumé. Quad 1 wins are gold in the eyes of the selection committee, while losses like the season-opening stumble against North Florida are like dead weight.
South Carolina needed this moment, especially with conference play looming in January.
The SEC is stacked this year, holding its spot as the top conference in the KENPOM rankings. And USC’s first three league matchups are no picnic: Mississippi State (first team out of the AP poll but ranked No. 19 in the NET rankings), No. 6 Alabama and No. 2 Auburn.
It’s shaping up to be a gauntlet, but a win like this against Clemson is proof the Gamecocks can swing with the heavyweights. And in a conference as loaded as the SEC, where nearly every game is a Quad 1 slugfest, even winning 10 league games could punch a ticket to March Madness.
As it stands, 16 of South Carolina’s 18 SEC games are projected Quad 1 matchups. The only exceptions: hosting Texas (Feb. 22) and Arkansas (March 1).
Coming into Tuesday’s game against Clemson, the Gamecocks were the caboose of the SEC in the NET rankings (No. 99). The win bumped them 14 spots to No. 85, but still the last SEC team.
Not that Paris is sweating the early rankings. Last year, the Gamecocks weren’t ranked in The Associated Press poll until February. That was despite a sparkling 12-1 non-conference start and wins over SEC juggernauts Kentucky and Tennessee.
“I’m not making any sort of suggestion whatsoever, but as far as rankings and achieving, I want them to get it right at the end of the year,” Paris said. “... If you look at last year’s team, once we got ranked eventually, we never were not ranked the rest of the season, because we were good.”
For Paris, the current rankings are nothing more than something pretty to look at. What matters is how it all shakes out when the NCAA bracket gets finalized.
That’s why Paris doesn’t put much stock into that magic number next to a team’s name early in the season. It’s good for confidence — or motivation to prove the voters wrong in South Carolina’s case.
Instead, Paris is focused on growth. Those early losses to Indiana and Xavier weren’t just lumps; they were stepping stones. He’s using those tough lessons to build a team that can win games like Tuesday’s — and stand tall against the SEC giants.
For the Gamecocks, the over win over Clemson isn’t the finish line. It’s the kind of spark that could Paris and his staff hope can set them up for SEC success.
“As a coach, you want to make sure that you scheduled hard for a reason, and you want to reap the benefits of some of that,” Paris said. “And wins like this begin to start the process.”
Next four games
- Sunday vs. Radford, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Dec. 30 vs. Presbyterian, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Jan. 4 at Mississippi State, 2 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Jan. 8 vs Alabama, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
