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COLUMBIA, S.C. (KeynoteUSA) — The best part of South Carolina men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris’ rise from SEC obscurity to the school’s first NCAA appearance in seven years was the close bond built between players with little to no connection.
Paris hopes to forge a similarly cohesive team, as his Gamecocks, one of the biggest positive surprises of last season, will be much different than the one that eliminated Kentucky and Tennessee and finished with a school-record 26 wins.
“I don’t think there’s any secret, I thought it was one of the best qualities we had,” Paris said of the chemistry and good feelings that fueled the Gamecocks, who went 11-21 in Paris’ first season in 2022-23.
“We played well together. Guy liked to play together and they played for each other,” Paris said.
This offseason could be just as challenging as the last, as South Carolina will lose four players, including leading scorer Meechie Johnson, who made a combined 116 starts.
Johnson, who averaged 14.1 points per game last season, was the only one still eligible and surprised many when he returned to Ohio State, where he played before joining South Carolina in Paris’ first season.
Also gone are talented transfers Ta’Lon Cooper, BJ Mack and Stephen Clark, Cooper averaged 33 minutes per game while Mack almost 25.
Paris credited last summer’s exhibition trip to the Bahamas for the early cohesion as the Gamecocks, picked last in the SEC, opened 13-1 with the lone loss coming to Clemson.
The bond is supposed to emerge on campus, and in fact, it has already begun with informal workouts featuring plenty of free-flowing offense for underclassmen like Alabama transfer Kam Pringle, 7-foot Missouri transfer Jordan Butler and freshman Cam Scott, who committed to Texas before transferring to South Carolina.
“What might help is that we have more kids coming back,” Paris said. “From a terminology standpoint, culture standpoint, traditions standpoint, customs standpoint and things we want to do, we have more of that.”
Among the returning players, 6-foot-7 sophomore Collin Murray-Boyles was selected to the SEC All-Rookie Team after averaging 10.4 points and nearly six rebounds per game. He also led the Gamecocks with 28 blocks and was dominant (14-of-17 shooting) with 31 points in a win over Vanderbilt.
Murray-Boyles is already on the NBA’s watch list for next June’s Draft in case he decides to leave.
“I still think his ceiling is incredibly high and I still don’t think he’s even close to reaching it,” Paris said.
Other returning players include forward Myles Stute, who played his first three years for Vanderbilt, and sophomore Austin Herro, brother of Miami Heat‘s Tyler Herro, who received a scholarship this season.
“Those guys have still heard what we’re saying and hopefully that will help speed up the process of getting comfortable and playing with each other and developing chemistry,” Paris said.
It was hard to say what expectations were a year ago for this program, which had lost leading scorer and current Memphis Grizzlies standout Gregory “GG” Jackson to the NBA draft after his freshman season.
Paris knows, after last season’s surprising performance, that fans are hungry for more. And that was further accentuated when Paris himself turned down other opportunities and signed a six-year, $26 million contract extension through the 2029-30 season.
Paris will earn $3.75 million this season, compared to $2.3 million last year.
On Wednesday, Paris brought in assistant Will Bailey from Loyola-Chicago to round out his coaching staff. Bailey had worked with the Gamecocks under former coach Frank Martin in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Paris has worked to keep those outside predictions out, for now.
“It’s a little premature in my plan to do that,” Paris said. “We’re just trying to get to know each other.”
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