What Lamont Paris said about Eli Ellis’ ankle injury, recovery timeline
South Carolina men’s basketball was short-handed for its rivalry matchup against Clemson on Tuesday.
USC freshman guard Eli Ellis was out for Tuesday’s 68-61 loss against the Tigers with a left ankle sprain, per a post to the team’s X (formerly Twitter) account. He was seen in a walking boot courtside at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson during the Gamecocks’ pregame warmup. His status is day-to-day.
Gamecock head coach Lamont Paris said his staff evaluated Ellis throughout the week leading up to the game before ultimately deciding to sit him.
“Eli went through shootaround today. ... I wasn’t that optimistic 24 hours ago that his body would respond the way that he needed to compete in this atmosphere and at this level,” Paris said. “Even after shootaround, he seemed to move OK, but then he called me after talking with our trainer, and said he just didn’t think he was able to go.”
Elli posted a video on his TikTok Monday with a clip from USC’s game Dec. 13 against The Citadel at Colonial Life Arena in which his foot was accidentally stepped on. Ellis captioned the video: “Glad God was watching over me.”
Ellis is averaging 10.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2..7 assists per game so far this season. Despite coming off the bench, he’s third on the team with 28.2 minutes played per game. Ellis was a four-star recruit and the No. 5 player in North Carolina, per the 247Sports composite rankings.
USC has already had some early injuries this season. Myles Stute missed three games with a broken nose and will play in a protective mask for the rest of the year, and fellow freshman Hayden Assemian missed time with a concussion. At full strength, the Gamecocks are already missing redshirt guards Cam Scott and Abu Yarmah.
South Carolina (7-4) tips off at home Monday against S.C. State (0-12) at 4 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.
“He wants to play, of course,” Paris said of Ellis. “But I also didn’t think it would do any good to go out there, play, be a shell of yourself probably hoping that maybe you can get some things done, not able to move the way you want to defensively and then also being at risk of going out there and having something happen again.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 6:37 PM.
