Photos: South Carolina earns first win of Lamont Paris era
The Gamecocks broke into the win column Tuesday night, edging SC State 80-77 in Lamont Paris’s debut as the Gamecocks’ coach.
GamecockCentral was there to capture it, along with the 18-point, 10-board night from GG Jackson. Here’s the gallery from GamecockCentral photographer Chris Gillespie.
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How it happened
South Carolina jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half but that quickly went away after Meechie Johnson briefly exited the game with an apparent ankle injury. SC State responded with an immediate 11-0 run and briefly took the lead.
“You know, before he checks out I think we’re up 14 and after that, we ended up being in a nip and tuck situation the rest of the game. The good thing about that is that there were all kinds of situations that we could not at practice we can’t simulate guys had to make a couple of clutch free throws,” Paris said. “We had to foul up three at the very end of the game. You know you can try all you want to practice and just the guys go half-speed at that. So it was good to get that.”
The Gamecocks took a three-point lead into halftime, shooting 34.4 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three. The Bulldogs, for comparison, shot 43.3 percent from the field and went 3-for-10 from three.
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South Carolina saw its second-half lead balloon to double-digits but, with Johnson in and out of the lineup still with injury, the Gamecocks could never really hold a lead. The Bulldogs would hit a bevy of contested threes and go 8-for-16 in the second half.
“I think that was a big part of it. He’s a good creator. I mean, he’s our point. And so you know, it’s like, all the positions count for the same. They’re all just as valuable. The center is just as valuable as the quarterback,” Paris said.
“But you just don’t see as many people say we lost the game, but our center had a bad game as a center. So when your quarterback or when your point guard is not available or can’t play the way that they want to it oftentimes affects the synergy of your team.”
The Gamecocks tried to keep things at arm’s reach with GG Jackson getting a big three-point play with about eight minutes to go and South Carolina was able to hold on for a win.
South Carolina used a Jacobi Wright, who finished with a career-high 14 points, three to go up nine. Then, followed by South Carolina State missing a pair at the line, Hayden Brown split two at the charity stripe to put the Gamecocks up 10.
The Bulldogs chipped away to make it a five-point game with 2:35 to play but South Carolina was able to push that back to six with another Jackson three-point play. SC State would stay scrappy, using a jump ball call and a layup to make it a two-point game with 3.6 seconds left.
Jacobi Wright hit one of two at the line to make it a three-point game after that and South Carolina State missed its first free throw as South Carolina held on for the three-point win.
