Growth key to early strong performances for South Carolina and Elijah Strong

When Elijah Strong first got to campus, South Carolina’s coaching staff admittedly underestimated him.

“Honestly, he’s been really good since the day he got here,” Lamont Paris said following Tuesday’s victory. “In the summer, he was one guy that was capable of more things than what we had originally anticipated.”

But Strong has still had to grow and fix his game as a player, as evidenced by a zero-point outing against Southern Miss in the second game of the season. Through four games, he’s averaging 16.3 minutes on the court after recording 23.6 minutes per game in 19 starts for the Eagles last year. At South Carolina, Strong has come off the bench in all four games. That hasn’t, however, impacted his efficiency.

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In fact, Strong’s recorded two games of 11-plus points in his career in which he played less than 20 minutes. Both of those games have come in the span of just over two weeks at South Carolina. Tuesday’s 87-58 win over Radford was only the second time ever that Strong hit more than seven shots from the field. Six of those makes were from inside the arc.

“The area offensively of real growth for him is some of his back-to-the-basket stuff,” Paris said. “Today, he was really good. He made two tough turnaround jumpers. Going to that shoulder, we’ve encouraged him to do because he has good touch.”

That efficiency inside was part of a team effort for the Gamecocks. Despite a relatively unimpressive day from beyond the arc (7-of-25 from three), South Carolina made 27-of-34 shots inside the arc. 79.4 percent was the highest ever from two-point territory for a Paris-coached Gamecocks squad. Paris did have another 27-34 day from inside the arc with Chattanooga in a road win over Tennessee Tech in 2021.

It wasn’t just offense, however, that Strong credited for his performance. The Gamecocks held Radford to 58 points, their first time preventing an opponent from hitting the 60-point mark since a win over Arkansas last March. Before that, the Gamecocks hadn’t done so since a Dec. 2024 victory against Presbyterian.

“Staying active defensively … led to my offense,” Strong said after the win. “My teammates do a really good job of just finding me in the right place, and we just make stuff happen from there.”

Paris also commended Strong’s defensive efforts following the win. The transfer finished the game with three defensive rebounds and a block.

“He’s just had some bad defensive habits,” Paris said. “He’s gotten better at some of those. I thought today was a good example of that. I thought he was significantly better in some of the decisions that he makes defensively.”

But Strong’s growth isn’t over. As the season continues to unfold, the schedule will get tougher. The Gamecocks face their first Power Five opponent on Friday when they travel to West Virginia to take on Butler in the Greenbrier Tip-Off. Following that matchup will be a game Sunday against Northwestern, which handled DePaul on the road in Chicago last Friday.

“We’re not there yet, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was good to see that when guys have focused on one or two things, collectively they can get those things done,” Paris said.

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