What's led Lamont Paris to rely on his freshman core early this season

When you think of South Carolina’s freshman class, the first name that probably comes to mind is Eli Ellis, which makes perfect sense. He was by far the highest-rated prospect coming out of high school and generated the most buzz of those incoming players.

It hasn’t been a huge surprise to see Ellis come in and play right away, more so than that, make an immediate impact. That was always the hope, and it’s worked out that way so far this season.

But what’s maybe been surprising is the emergence of some other freshmen who weren’t expected to play as much as Ellis. They aren’t only seeing action in the late minutes of blowout games against mid-major opponents. Head coach Lamont Paris has given a few of them real floor time, and they’ve taken full advantage of those opportunities.

That was evident in Wednesday’s 81-61 win over Presbyterian with notable contributions coming from Hayden Assemian and Grant Polk, both three-star prospects in South Carolina’s 2025 recruiting class.

READ HERE: South Carolina makes tweak to normal scoring approach in blowout win over Presbyterian

Assemian, who came off the bench in the previous two games, made his first start in what was his third career game. A lot of that had to do with usual starting forward, Nordin Kapic, who’s been dealing with a deep thigh bruise, only playing four minutes off the bench on Wednesday.

“The next guy in line really had been Hayden,” Paris said. “I think Hayden’s been one of our most consistent guys. That’s funny to say about a freshman who had the highest plus minus in the last game and didn’t shoot one shot so but I think he’s been one of our most predictable players, in terms of what I get. I have the fewest amount of surprises based on what he does.”

The 6-foot-6 forward didn’t provide much from a scoring standpoint, scoring only five points in 15 minutes, but that’s not why he was out there. Within the first two minutes of the game, Assemian had already grabbed three offensive rebounds and finished with a team-high eight total on the night.

“It looked like there were three of him out there with every rebound; he either grabbed it or he was involved in it,” Paris said. “He has elite effort. It’s elite effort that you couldn’t do if you were trying to concentrate on making yourself play that hard all the time. You either are that person already or you’re not, and it’s no discredit to not have his level of effort because it’s elite, but he plays really hard.”

On the other hand, Polk provided much more of the scoring that the Gamecocks needed, especially in the first half when the shots weren’t coming consistently. South Carolina started 0-for-6 from three-point range and 2-for-10 from the field within the opening five minutes.

In a half where the team shot 36.7 percent, Polk was mainly the group’s most consistent scorer. Polk, who shot 45 percent from behind the arc as a senior at St. Alban’s High School (D.C.), had 12 points and made all four of his three-point attempts on Wednesday.

“Grant Polk is really able,” Paris said. “Obviously, he can shoot the ball. I think we know that.”

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Ellis also did his part in the win, finishing with nine points on 3-of-7 shooting with a team-leading five assists in 23 minutes of action.

“Eli was really generating a lot of offense at one point,” Paris said, “either for himself or his teammates, so that was really good.”

But it’s become clear early on that, while Ellis is the headliner of that group, freshmen like Assemian and Polk are going to have a real chance moving forward to play and make an impact.

“I love our freshman class. I’ve said that already before, so I’m glad that they’ve played well,” Paris said. “… A really good class, and I’m excited about those guys and their ability to impact us.”

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