Lamont Paris excited to develop new-look South Carolina roster in 2025

The South Carolina men’s basketball program has begun summer workouts with only three players from its 2024-25 roster returning.

With the Gamecocks returning only 8.6 percent of their scoring from last season and bringing in 11 new players, things can get difficult early in training.

However, head coach Lamont Paris relishes in the challenge and is excited to develop his new-look team.

“I mean, it’s a challenge,” Paris said. “But, I think I’m on record probably saying this, that this is my favorite part. My favorite part of this whole job is the relationships and the development of players.”

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Paris said the excitement around bringing this many new players to South Carolina had him eagerly waiting for summer workouts to start.

As of Tuesday, the Gamecocks have finished two weeks of their summer workouts with 10 of the 11 newcomers in Columbia. Christ Essandoko will join the team at a later date due to some international rules and protocol.

Paris’ excitement comes from having a lot of teaching to do with having fewer veterans and more new faces.

“Now, you have to do a lot of the teaching and a lot of the demonstrating to 11 new guys,” Paris said. “And so, it’s a challenge, but it’s a type of thing that I think is the longer you’re in this, you love.”

It also doesn’t hurt that one of the 11 new transfers comes in for his second stint with the Gamecocks.

Fan favorite Meechie Johnson announced his return to South Carolina in April. The star guard from South Carolina’s 2023-24 NCAA Tournament campaign returns after spending one season playing for his home-state Ohio State Buckeyes.

Paris said Johnson is excited to be back. He returns to the Gamecocks knowing what his role will be while also having the support from the staff and community.

“I think at this stage he’s not trying to be, I alluded to this, he’s not trying to prove anything. … He’ll be trying to prove that this team can win a lot of games,” Paris said. “But he’s very comfortable, and he knows why he’s back here, right? He knows why he came back here, and he knows why we wanted him back here, and he knows what his role is, and there’s a comfort that comes with that in just how you move from day to day.”

Among the newcomers is freshman Eli Ellis. Ellis spent the past three years playing in the Overtime Elite league. There, with fellow freshmen Hayden Assemian and Abu Yarmah, Ellis led the YNG Dreamers to the OTE Championship. Ellis is also a two-time MVP of the league and its all-time leading scorer.

So far this summer, Paris said he has seen Ellis “doing Eli stuff.”

“And I say that in all the best ways. He’s extremely competitive. That’s probably the understatement of the year,” Paris said. “And he does that in a way where he channels it in a manner that allows him to then be a more productive player because of it … for a young guy, he just is really confident in what he does.”

Transfers like former Utah guard Mike Sharavjamts also pique Paris’ interest and love for player development.

“Mike’s feel for the game stands out amongst guys that have (a) good feel for the game,” Paris said. “… He sees the game through a very reliable lens, and that lens happens to be similar to the lens that I see the game through, too, which is why he’s even a better fit for us.”

Sharavjamts is a native of Mongolia and averaged 7.2 points, including three points and two assists during the 2024-25 season with the Utes.

But Paris acknowledged the difficulty that comes in having to build chemistry between many new guys.

Developing that chemistry starts in recruiting, Paris said. The Gamecocks are also putting together activities to speed the process up.

“You’ve probably seen some of them on social media, had a little cookout and pool party,” Paris said. “And, you know, we’ll do a lot of activities. Some will be smaller things. Other things, we’ll do a couple of more significant things in the summertime to try to expedite that process.

Getting to know each other and how to communicate with one another is a big part of it. That includes how to communicate between a player and a coach.

“Kids change from generation to generation. I feel like the last three years it has been two generations worth of change,” Paris said. “… So how you communicate, how you present something, how the message hits. And so they have to learn that also, because that’s one area where there’s room for a ton of growth with young people.”

As South Carolina works through the remainder of the summer, Paris said some of the learning on and off the court is already going on.

“You see guys locked into what you’re saying and trying their hardest to do what they’ve been taught, and be willing to fail and all that kind of stuff,” Paris said. “So all that gets wrapped up into this whole thing that I call development. And to me, that’s still a big part of what this job is. … So it’s been challenging, but I’ve been looking forward to this.”

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