Lamont Paris bemoans 'stagnant' South Carolina offense early on against Oregon
South Carolina opened up the NCAA Tournament against Oregon a little off-kilter, thrown off by some early zone defense the Ducks threw out to stymie the Gamecocks.
Coach Lamont Paris wasn’t thrilled with how his team responded to it initially. Things were just a little tentative.
“Yeah we’ve got to be confident,” Paris told TNT sideline reporter Evan Washburn during the first half. “You’ve got to play aggressively and play with confidence, but we’ve got to get moving also. I thought we were stangant a little bit when we saw the zone the first time.”
Both teams battled back and forth early on, a reasonably well-balanced matchup. Both teams had hit a few 3-pointers in the early going, with some good looks available from the perimeter.
Forward BJ Mack led South Carolina with seven early points through the first 13 minutes of the game, while guard Jermaine Couisnard had matched that with seven points for Oregon.
Paris wanted his team to remain aggressive for the rest of the half.
“We’ve attacked the rim and gotten the ball inside there a couple times,” he said. “We’ve also generated a couple open shots from the perimeter. We’ve hit one or two but we’ve missed some good open looks. But we’ve got to keep the ball moving and keep guys moving.”
Jermaine Couisnard playing against former team
There may not be much in common between South Carolina and Oregon, who play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. But they do share one interesting fact: that Ducks star Jermaine Couisnard has played for both schools.
The sixth-year senior and Chicago native has seen both oceans in his collegiate career, first starting at South Carolina, where he spent four whole seasons before deciding to transfer to Oregon. Of course, his journey between the two programs was a talking point ahead of the matchup and Couisnard was asked about his feelings facing his former team.
He shared nothing but positive reviews and is thrilled to see the Gamecocks finally thriving after some really lean years when he was there.
“It was amazing for me, just seeing how far the program came and how the coach has done a good job with them guys over there,” said Couisnard. “It was something that we all wanted when we all was there. So it was like we all got what we wanted.”