Lamont Paris discusses ‘fun’ night against Kentucky

South Carolina, led by head coach Lamont Paris, went into Lexington and beat Kentucky 71-68. While it was a frustrating game for the Wildcats, it was an incredibly fun one for the Gamecocks.

After the game, Paris discussed having a fun night against Kentucky.

“Sometimes, in this whole process, buried way beneath the hard work and sweat and yelling at and all that stuff, we talk to our guys all the time that there’s fun in disguise buried somewhere in there,” Lamont Paris said.

“It showed its head today, that’s for sure. I don’t think it was in disguise.”

This is Lamont Paris’ first season with South Carolina. He previously was the head coach at Chattanooga, where he led the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament last season. He’s in charge of replacing long-time coach Frank Martin, who is now at UMass.

“But, a lot of credit to their guys. Both teams are coming off of a tough loss, and so both teams I knew and expected to get everything that they had and their best effort, and they did. They clawed and scrapped. We were hot early. We ran some good offense and made some shots. A couple from way out on the moon, even,” Paris continued.

“But they came back, which we knew they would. The crowd got into it. I couldn’t call plays anymore. It’s deafening. So, credit to their guys from competing and the way that they did and playing really hard, and credit to our guys for doing the same.”

South Carolina moved to 8-8 on the season with the win, while Kentucky fell to a disappointing 10-6. The Gamecocks will look to add to their win total against Texas A&M on Saturday. As for the Wildcats, they will be taking on Tennessee, one of the game’s best teams, on Saturday.

“It’s fun to have a front-row seat for all that stuff. I thought it was a great college basketball game with just two teams that really, inside, felt they really had to have the win and it looked like that as we played.”

John Calipari responded to fan criticism following the loss

Kentucky head coach John Calipari is facing a lot of criticism from fans this season and with the loss to South Carolina, it’s only gotten worse.

“Well, I’m not into tempering expectations I still have expectations for this team,” Calipari said.

“I know there are people that are angry, but for you to stick around and be like you are toward me after that, I appreciate it. I really do.”