Lamont Paris addresses court storming, praises South Carolina crowd after Kentucky win

Storming the court is one of the things that makes college basketball exciting, and it was South Carolina’s turn Tuesday. The Gamecocks pulled off a 79-62 victory against No. 6 Kentucky and fans filed onto the court to celebrate the second the buzzer sounded.

Thankfully, Kentucky players were able to get off the court in time and there were no issues. As is typical following a storming of the court or field, however, the SEC still issued a fine to South Carolina of $100,000.

Gamecocks coach Lamont Paris joined the Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday to talk about his team’s big win. He also addressed the court storming, saying he had no intention of stopping students from the moment despite knowing a fine would come.

“I tried with a little time on the clock, we called a timeout and I was going to make an announcement to the crowd just so the teams could get off the floor and be away from that so there weren’t any incidents that could happen,” Paris said. “But it didn’t work out that way. John (Calipari)’s been in this situation before. He’s a seasoned veteran, so he had his guys off the court. But I wasn’t gonna tell them not to storm the court, I’ll tell you that.

“They go to school, these students, this is part of the whole experience for them. This is part of the reason why some of them came to a university like this. Could you imagine telling them not to go out there and enjoy that experience? They were running around and I saw videos later. They were jumping in a pond we have on campus. How fun to be them? Really fun.”

The Gamecocks started off the game strong and took a 33-25 lead into halftime. They then expanded on their lead in the second half in what ultimately ended up being a blowout. Talon Cooper led the team with 20 points.

There were also several electrifying moments that got the crowd involved, including a big-time dunk from Collin Murray-Boyles over Kentucky big man Zvonimir Ivisic. It got pretty loud at times in Colonial Life Arena, and Paris made sure to let the fans know he felt their impact on the game.

“Honestly, when I’m in the game, I’m in a cocoon,” he said. “I don’t really notice the crowd much. But it was so wild in there it was impossible not to. I know the guys feed off of that and I think in 2024 more than ever. Guys like to and need to feel good to perform well. Our fans are intelligent basketball fans. So when there was a stop that really needed to be had or a rebound that was secured, or certainly if there was a dunk of a 3 or something like that, they got up.

“They were very loud and honestly our guys feed off of that so much. It’s hard to quantify what the home crowd does, but there’s no doubt in my mind that that home crowd as electric as it was had such an impact on not only what our guys did, but you get a young group like Kentucky’s, as talented as they are they’ve got a lot of young guys. That’s probably the first time that specific environment that they’ve been in and been down.”

South Carolina improved to 16-3 (4-2 SEC) with the win. The Gamecocks will look to keep the momentum going as they have another home game at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday against Missouri.