Everything Lamont Paris said after South Carolina's first loss of 2025-26 season

South Carolina men’s basketball head coach Lamont Paris spoke to the media after the Gamecocks lost 79-72 to the Butler Bulldogs. The loss marked South Carolina’s first of the 2025-26 season.

Here’s everything he said.

The Insiders Forum: Discuss South Carolina basketball!

Opening Statement

“I think they kicked our rear ends physically. Which, hopefully, will be good for us and incite some changes in mindset, which will incite some changes to what we’re doing physically, which will hopefully lead to some different results. Physical play, you write stuff up on the board before the game, we’re going to concentrate on this, and then you don’t do that well at all in the game, so what’s inwards. What’s in a phrase that I write on the board, or what’s in a pregame speech to come out and just not compete physically?”

“I thought that was, really, again, we didn’t play great, as far as shooting. The numbers would suggest that. Probably one of our worst offensive performances, not taking any credit away from [Butler], but also had some shots, especially in the second half, that guys can make and generally have made. But holy smokes, you’re just not gonna win as many games, which is a lesson we need to learn right now, you’re not gonna win many games if, from a competitive standpoint, you don’t have it within you to ratchet things up when that’s called for.”

Is that speaking to the rebounding margin, or is that partially from a fundamental standpoint?

“Yeah, it’s a combination. We talk a lot about fundamentals, technique, ok. At the end of the day, your desired result is to get the ball when they miss, and so I’m not really that interested in their technique. Now, over the years, this particular blockout technique has seemed to work for most of the guys, but if you want to create some kind of new thing that works, I’m so down for that. So some of it’s that, but some of it’s just, in the face of imminent friction, just not responding in a way that I would’ve responded, personally. But we’re going to have to make that decision because every game at this level is going to involve a good dose of that. But, yeah, I would say rebounding, that’s where it was most tangible and showed the most in second chance points and offensive rebounds and just rebound numbers in general. Just, we’re not good. There’s no way to describe it, to say it any better than that.”

What kind of adjustments can you or did you make in-game when Butler is winning the rebound battle early?

“[The front court positions] have been somewhat of a revolving door this year and may continue to be until one or two guys establish that, ‘Here’s what you can rely upon me for.’ And if that’s only shooting, the days that you shoot well, you’re going to be in there, the days that you don’t shoot well, you’re not going to be in there as much. That’s pretty simple. But I think it’s easier, more predictable to say, ‘You can rely on me because I make physical blockouts. I don’t win every single one of them, but you’re never going to look up, and the shot goes up, and I didn’t make a really good box out. Rely on me for all these efforts and things that have to do with intent.’

“But certainly in this game, that was the impetus for both of [Jordan Butler and Christ Essandoko] going in there. Just, more size and physicality. I thought they were attacking the rim hard, even with some of their bigs getting some things to happen. Christ is our most massive guy, so I thought that’d look to help and those guys played well relative to the other group tonight and that was the real reason why we tried to make that work.”

Eli Eliis had a slow start, then 12 points and three steals in the second half. What has he meant for the team this season?

“Yeah, for a young guy, it all boils down, I want to be very clear, it all boils down to competitiveness. It all boils down to competitiveness. You can make certain things happen, whether you play well and make shots, how you adjust to things, how you adjust to how aggressive a guy is, how do you adjust to how a ref is calling a game. It all boils down to competitiveness, and he has an elite competitiveness. That doesn’t make the ball go in, I don’t think, except I also can’t say it doesn’t make the ball go in. He’s a competitive guy. I’ve always been impressed with that with him, particularly for a young person and a young player.”

“Obviously, we’re really high on him; he’s done a really good job for us this year. He’s got a tremendous spirit and energy when he plays. So, those are the things we would like to rely on him to bring to the team. And at the end of the day, whether he plays well or nutmegs a guy, great. But, that’s not the base of who he is as a player, so he’s a good basketball player that’s a tremendous competitor, and I think that’s really where it starts for him and his success as a basketball player.”

Tight rims, yes or no, and how much does that play into the shooting percentage and in-game strategy?

“Yeah, I mean, I think the rims are tight. And I can say that because I got my share of jump shots up. So, I think the rims are tight relative to other ones. And that’s a straightforward statement. Not critical of anybody, the rims are tight. So, you’ve got to be a little more pure when you shoot the thing. But, sure, as a team that has this season been a skill team from behind the three-point line and got a good portion of what we do from behind the three-point line, sure, in theory, that affects us probably a little more disproportionately than others. But there’s also more offensive rebounding opportunities.”

“But we did try to go inside. We ran a couple of sets to go to Christ in one-on-one situations inside. Elijah [Strong] got the ball one-on-one inside the post. I think anybody who knows me knows, like, I’m not a huge believer in a team that has no source of offense in the painted area, particularly the block for me. So we’ve done some stuff, we ran some stuff down there. Mike [Sharavjamts] got down there. Eli was down there once again, so it was tough sledging that way. It didn’t get paid off when we got the ball down there and missed. But we made a concerted effort to try and get around the basket a little bit and get some things to happen.”

“Let’s make no mistake about it, though, on the days that you play that way from a shooting percentage standpoint, it’s just hard to counter 85 points in a game against a team that plays hard defensively. It’s just hard to rely on that. It’s hard. But I hope it happens, but it’s hard to rely on it. You got, at the end of the day, find a way to get the team the looks and that possession is not over until you get the ball in. That’s where our failures today were really most glaring to me.”

Tough day shooting for Myles Stute. Throughout the season, he’s missed some shots he’d normally hit. What are you seeing from him right now? How much do you continue to rely on him through the tough times?

“Good question. Myles has been through some battles. He’s helped us win some tough games, he’s been around, he’s got tremendous leadership qualities and energy and spirit that’s great. But I remember Klay Thompson a few years ago started the year off with some sort of crazy bad three-point percentage. Which, that was the day where I went, ‘Ok, anyone can start the season off poorly.’ So, Myles is a maniacal worker. If you’ve ever been around him at all, you’ll know that. He’ll find his way through it. But yeah, he brings some other things to the table, generally.”

“What his challenge is, he can’t let any shortcomings and struggles in terms of shooting bleed into too many other aspects of his game. He’s got to continue to try to be a good defender that stays in front of the ball and knows our rules and talks and communicates, that is uplifting with his worries, and to his teammates, understand the general landscape of what we’re trying to do offensively, be a good cutter, initiate offense by way of his pass. Like, he still needs to do those things. And as long as he does those things, he’s allowed to shoot the ball poorly and still play a significant amount. But when it starts to bleed to other parts of your game, you need to take a little breather and potentially take a look at mixing some things up.”

What is your point of emphasis for your guard room? What do you tell them, especially going into another big game on Sunday, where you have to rebound?

“We’ll address the team generally. We try to take what the other team gives us, as far as our offense goes. And if you’re switching a lot of stuff, we think we can get a matchup inside in the post. If you’re putting your fives on your perimeter guys, which they were doing some, so we had a couple of designed rim attacks, by a couple of those guys, particularly with Meechie [Johnson] and I think him and Eli were a couple designed drives.”

“But, those guys, I don’t think they care if they shoot a bunch or don’t shoot that much. That’s a good thing to have. So, you know, just keep trying to do their thing, play well, got to rebound, also. This group is going to need them to rebound some. But, we’ll just address the team generally. I think we got stagnant, a little bit, I will say that about our perimeter guys. I noticed we got stagnant a little bit, it can happen when the ball is not moving as much, and they’re being physical, we’re not able to get some things done, and so we watch the ball a little bit more than what I would like. So, those get back on the drawing board on that, be good screeners and cutters, and then when an opportunity presents itself, those guys, they never turn down an opportunity that presents itself to them to make a play for themselves or one another.”

Why didn’t Grant Polk play in the second half? Was it something you saw in the first, or something different?

“Nothing other than just coaching a game. That’s just the way it worked out in that game. Maybe this is unfair to him, but maybe I had a bad taste in my mouth on the last play of the first half, where his man gets behind and tips it in at the buzzer in a game where, at that point, we had given up a lot of offensive rebounds. He’s not the only one, trust me on that. In no way, shape, or form the outcome of this game happened because of his rebound or blockout transgressions. Maybe to some degree, he was the victim to that.”
“But also, as you’re in the moment and you see this happening, you’re going to try to address it with people that you most likely believe might get the job most done that way. Again, if you’re getting driven a lot, you’re not going to say ‘Hey, let’s make this move for offense,’ when we can’t stop the drive. That’s not me, anyways. But I normally try to address the issues that are out there, and rebounding was one of them, so we went with some guys that were trying to get it figured out that way. But also, we didn’t shoot the ball great, so there was probably some merit to doing it that way. Just the way it worked out in this particular game. Gave some older guys a chance to respond and some guys did to some degree, some guys really didn’t, and so, we’ll learn from that and move forward.”

The Insiders Forum: Discuss South Carolina basketball!