Lamont Paris calls on South Carolina to be more aggressive on rebounds

Through 18 games this season, South Carolina ranks 13th out of the 14 SEC programs in rebounds per game. That was one again an issue in the Gamecocks’ Tuesday loss to Ole Miss, and head coach Lamont Paris issued a call to action in the postgame press conference.

Paris said his team needs to be more aggressive in crashing the boards. South Carolina got out-rebounded 43-31 against Ole Miss and 36-26 in the defensive rebounding category, and he said it’s not because the teams scored at a high volume. After all, the Gamecocks shot 36% from the field while the Rebels shot 46%.

Paris also said the film would tell him more about the opportunities they had.

“I think it comes down to aggression,” Paris said. “We’ve missed plenty of shots, so it’s not for lack of opportunity out there. I think it comes down to aggression. I’ve looked at even, if you’re not going. Well, what does that mean, if you’re not going? Are you fatigued, and that’s why I’m not going? Is it bouncing the wrong way, which has happened a couple times? We haven’t grabbed a couple of them, also.

“But how many times do you go? What’s your percentage of attempts to go get an offensive rebound? ‘This many shots were missed while I was out there, I had 40 different opportunities to go to the offensive glass.’ And then, as I look back on the film, maybe you only went six times. Well, why would that be? So trying to get to the root of that.”

Lamont Paris: Missed shots are ‘the most common thing that happens in the game of basketball’

Paris said the key to rebounding success starts with the big men. Forwards GG Jackson leads the team with 6.6 rebounds per game and Hayden Brown is second with 4.9. The next closest big man on the list is center Josh Gray with 3.7 rebounds per game.

Although players such as Meechie Johnson also rebound well — to the tune of 4.1 boards per game — Paris said the big men need to step up.

“Our bigger-than-average guys have not rebounded well the last few games,” Paris said. “I think the last game, from our five spot, we had three different rebounds on the entire game. What am I to do about that? Tell a guy to rebound? You think I’ve never told one of these guys to rebound? ‘Hey, you’re tall and stuff. You should be getting some of these.’ Either that or I can say, ‘Meechie, you’ve got to go get 15 rebounds.’ And he does rebound pretty well for a guard. But we’ve got to rebound. You have to rebound. You have to go do it.

“Most shots do what? Miss. Most shots miss. I don’t care who you are. A couple guys, most of theirs go in. They’re usually dunks or layups. Most guys when they shoot, they miss. It’s the most common thing that happens in the game of basketball. You shoot it and you miss it. So, you have to anticipate, you have to have a nose for it and you’ve got to want it. You’ve got to be grimy when it comes down to that and you’ve got to get after it.”