Eli Ellis out to prove naysayers wrong, earn respect as freshman season begins

It’s been nearly two years since Eli Ellis committed to South Carolina. In the time that’s passed since then, the anticipation grew as the day he’d finally suit up in a Gamecock uniform was coming.

The hype surrounding Ellis is real. He dominated his way through high school, winning back-to-back Overtime Elite league MVP awards. The expectations have been and will continue to be high as he begins his freshman season.

But if Sunday was any indication of how his game will translate over to college, he and the Gamecocks could be in for a fun ride. While South Carolina suffered an 88-86 loss to NC State in an exhibition game out in Greensboro, Ellis shined in his unofficial college debut.

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A 6-foot, 192-pound guard, Ellis, led the team with 23 points and five three-pointers on 7-of-10 shooting in 27 minutes. His efforts came against an NC State, a team barely left outside of the AP Top 25 and picked to finish fourth in the ACC.

“Oh, it was huge,” Ellis said of his performance. “I’ve always been a pretty confident person, but coming into this level of basketball against a really good team with a lot of people in the stands, it was good for me just to be able to have that first good game and hopefully keep this thing rolling.”

Ellis was one of the first to come in off the bench and quickly made his first two shots. After South Carolina took a five-point lead into halftime, the Wolfpack came out firing in the second half and regained the lead within the first four minutes from a 7-0 run by Quadir Copeland.

That’s when Ellis turned it on. Just like he did many times with Moravian Prep and the YNG Dreamerz in OTE, he became the go-to option and led the Gamecocks on a big run to jump back in front.

“He’s a competitive kid. Whoever’s really out there competing in any walk of life, I’m not sure they compete like he does,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “… This has been his whole life, and he’s got a flair for the dramatic, and he typically ends up backing up some of the stuff, most of the stuff. So anyway, he’s a talented player. He’s a good teammate. He’s a maniacal worker, maniacal.”

Over the next eight minutes, Ellis scored 17 points and knocked down four straight three-pointers before his next miss. In that time, South Carolina went from trailing by two to holding a double-digit point lead.

“I was just waiting for the shots to come, being myself, doing things that will lead to getting open shots,” Ellis said. “And then my guys did a good job of finding me when I had the hot hand, fast breaks, open shots, open reads, they just made those decisions, and I was able to knock them down.”

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After the Gamecocks took their 11-point lead, Ellis didn’t make another shot the rest of the night. Coincidentally, NC State came from behind to win in the final seconds on a go-ahead three-pointer by Wolfpack guard Paul McNeil.

Regardless, the game didn’t count either way since it was only an exhibition. For Ellis, though, this was a chance for him to be able to prove he belongs. So far, he’s off to a good start.

“Nobody really expected me to do much at the college level,” Ellis said. “I think a lot of eyes are on me just to be able to fail, but to have that first good game, it shows that OTE, college, no matter what level, I can show up and perform and be a guy and help a team win.

“We didn’t get it done tonight, but we’ll get a lot done in the future. Getting that first game out of the way sustained a lot of things, and hopefully I’ll get the respect I deserve throughout the season.”

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