Lamont Paris on singular focus: ‘I don’t even know who we play until someone tells me’

Lamont Paris is focused on the present moment. After South Carolina‘s 80-57 loss to Kentucky on Saturday, the Gamecocks’ head coach provided an intriguing answer when asked how his team can learn from the loss ahead of their showdown against Ole Miss on Wednesday.

“Well, we focus on us. I don’t really anybody has the luxury of using the transitive property to their benefit,” Paris said. “To say, ‘These guys did this against them, they did this against us, we ought to do this against them,’ right? I don’t even know who we play until somebody tells me. You’re going to think that’s crazy. I don’t know who we play until they tell me.”

Paris’ strategy hasn’t been working this season. South Carolina is 0-10 in conference play after going 13-5 against SEC foes last season.

In South Carolina’s loss at Kentucky on Saturday, the Gamecocks’ offense sputtered. South Carolina shot just 32.2% from the field and an even worse 18.2% from beyond the arc.

For reference, South Carolina is shooting 42.9% from the floor and 32.3% from 3-point range this season. South Carolina’s 57 points are the least an opponent has scored against Kentucky this season.

Despite the Gamecocks’ subpar performance against Kentucky, they’ve proven they can compete against the top teams in the country. Earlier this season, South Carolina suffered a 3-point loss against Auburn. Only 11 days later, the Gamecocks fell by one point to Florida.

Lamont Paris knows what his team is capable of and he doesn’t plan on giving up on them anytime soon.

“I spend most of my time, particularly in years where we’re struggling, in any facet of the game, trying to help our guys get as good as they can possibly get so that our product is as good as it can get,” Paris said. “That takes a lot of time. I wouldn’t be a good coach if we didn’t spend any time on the opponent. We do that.

“But the yeoman’s work is focused on what we do and how we can do that better. And even as we prepare for someone, it’s ‘how do we do our things better’ versus the zone that they do, against the pressure that they do, against the personnel that they have.

“It’s still ‘how can we get to a point where we’re able to get the way that we feel comfortable’, in spite of who or what the other team does. I’ll watch this game on the way home, I’ll probably watch it again tomorrow. And then at some point, I’ll move on to Ole Miss, as it were.”

South Carolina will face off against Ole Miss on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air live on the SEC Network.