Lamont Paris credits Ta'Lon Cooper for prioritizing team success

South Carolina recorded a massive upset win over No. 6 Kentucky on Tuesday night, in part because of the outstanding performance of guard Ta’Lon Cooper in the contest.

Cooper exploded for a season-high 20 points. But he also stuffed the stat sheet by grabbing six rebounds, dishing five assists and blocking two shots.

“Ta’Lon is the consummate winner,” coach Lamont Paris said. “He’s been on a mission in this last stop in his journey to have a lot of success. He came from Minnesota, where he didn’t have much success, and before that he was playing in the NCAA Tournament (with Morehead State). So I think he wanted to make sure that success is something that this team achieves. So he gives himself to the team and he doesn’t care.”

Cooper’s willingness to play whatever role the coaches ask of him has given South Carolina some real flexibility. But that’s not necessarily something specific only to Cooper.

Paris’ squad is built around unity and selflessness.

“Our team is not built; every team’s going to have a leading scorer,” Paris said. “But our team’s not built around depending upon one person to have to score. Certainly Meechie (Johnson)‘s our leading scorer and we need him to have his foot on the gas pedal, trust me. But in any particular game, it’s going to be Ta’lon, or Collin (Murray-Boyles), or BJ (Mack)‘s had big games, or (Jacobi Wright)’s come up with a bunch of shots, or Zach (Davis)‘s had 12 points in the last game. There’s a lot of guys. And that’s kind of the way that we do it.”

Still, Ta’Lon Cooper is on a roll right now. He’s averaging 9.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.

If he can keep that going, South Carolina will have yet another high-level player it can rely on going forward. Cooper’s role can be as big as he wants it to be.

“The way our offense works, I don’t predetermine that I’m going to call nine plays for this guy or call a bunch of plays for that guy,” Paris said. “We get in the flow of the game and as opportunities present themselves, guys take advantage of those. And guys that are playing better tend to be a little more aggressive. Guys that are playing with someone that’s playing really well tend to look for guys a little bit more. That’s the beauty of having an unselfish team.

“That’s also the beauty of having a team that’s got a lot of versatility on the offensive end.”