Lamont Paris shares how South Carolina moves on from Auburn blowout

No. 11 South Carolina‘s seven game win streak came to an abrupt halt on Wednesday inside Neville Arena. Losing to No. 13 Auburn 101-61, head coach Lamont Paris explained why it’s best for his guys to simply move on from a loss like this.

“You’ve just got to get on to the next one,” Paris said postgame. “It’s almost better if it turns out like this, right? Again, I don’t want to take anything away from Auburn. They’re a good team. They’re well-coached. They played really well. But I don’t think for a second that they’re 40 points better.

“I don’t think that. So, it’s almost better that it turned out that way because turning the page on what I’ll be able to sell to them as an anomaly — not in that we lost, certainly — but in that it turned out like that. I think that’d be easier for them to get on to the next practice. Stuff happens. Sometimes you get the bull, sometimes the bull gets you and it wasn’t our day in conjunction with it was their day. And so, they’ve got guys at the end of the game that are going full-speed crossover dribble pull up from 17 and say it was a good day. It was a good day.”

Auburn outpaced to Gamecocks from the start, leading 50-28 at the half and only expanded on that in the second half, leading by as many as 41 points during the game. As Paris previously said, the final score is not indicative of how South Carolina should be perceived nationally.

There is no arguing, however, that the Gamecocks became a statistic Wednesday night in Auburn, Alabama. After the 40-point loss, Auburn is now winning conference matchups by a margin of 22.3 points inside Neville Arena. It’s not just South Carolina — it has happened to everyone this season.

The best thing to do in this situation is to simply move on. The Gamecocks’ fairy tale season will continue as they look to hold one of the top four spots in the SEC standings and earn a double bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.

To do that they will have to hold home court against LSU this weekend. This is the first and only time the Gamecocks and Tigers will match up this regular season. The opening tip is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET live on the SEC Network.