Lamont Paris reacts after Gamecocks fall short to LSU in overtime

South Carolina men’s basketball has settled near the bottom of the SEC after a 92-87 overtime loss to LSU on Saturday.

USC had a chance to win Saturday’s game down two in the extra period at Colonial Life Arena but made a handful of mistakes that ultimately allowed the Tigers to pull away and tie the season series at 1-1.

The Gamecocks are now 11-11 on the season. Lamont Paris’ record as USC’s head coach is now 60-60 .

Here’s what Paris had to say after the game:

Opening statement

Paris started by addressing that both teams, sitting near the bottom of the SEC with a combined four conference wins, needed to win this game. USC simply didn’t make the necessary winning plays late.

“Tough game. Felt bad for the guys, grueling. Two teams fought really hard, and both really wanted and needed to win, and (we) just weren’t able to do it at the end. Made a move at the end of the first half that allowed us to close the gap and get it right back to where we wanted it to be, and then we had opportunities in the second half,” Paris said. “We didn’t make some plays. If you look at the real waning moments of the game, we didn’t make some plays, and combined with some free throw shooting, oftentimes, that’s the difference in these close games.”

New strategy

Throughout the game, USC made an effort to attack inside on offense and defense, and lay off its usual 26.6 3-point attempts per game. The Gamecocks finished with 24 attempts from 3-point range, but at one point had shot just four attempts with eight minutes left in the first half.

“We would do it more. We bet we’ve been up and down in terms of our ability to take advantage of a switch in those situations and keep a smaller guy on our back. It’s not the easiest thing. They’re quick. They have an advantage that way around there. ... Honestly, that’s the way we wanted to try to start the second. “If you do it exactly the way that you want, and he gets it in there and gets fouled or gets a bucket, and you’re like, ‘That’s right, that’s exactly what we’re doing the whole rest of the half.’ So sometimes that’s what goes into some of your decisions. But yeah, I did want to get the ball in there when they were switching. A lot of people in our league do that. We typically, I like to throw the ball inside. We had varying success in terms of finishing, but we did draw some fouls in there, and so ultimately, we got it in there some, but probably not enough.”

Closing sequence

Paris finished by explaining the closing sequence of the game, where LSU hit a wide-open corner 3to seal the win in overtime.

“All this stuff is coming at guys. Some of these guys have never been in this situation. There’s a lot of information coming at these guys in a highly intense scenario, but the wrong guy came and double-teamed the ball. ... We gambled, and then the trap was split,” Paris said. “When that happens, everyone floods to the ball ... And then they sprayed it out to the perimeter for a 3, so it was down four instead of down three or less.”