Lamont Paris calls out John Calipari over South Carolina record comments: 'What does that even mean?'

Arkansas defeated South Carolina 82-78 in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Wednesday, ending the Gamecocks’ 2024-25 season in Nashville. South Carolina rounds out its season 12-20 overall, and 2-16 against SEC competition.

After the game, Razorbacks head coach John Calipari hinted that the Gamecocks’ season might have gone differently if they didn’t play in SEC. “In a different league, they’re good,” Calipari said.

The SEC could send up to 13 teams to the NCAA Tournament when the bracket is revealed on Selection Sunday. Against stiff competition each night, South Carolina didn’t have the season predicted of them. Despite this, Gamecocks head coach Lamont Paris doesn’t appear to agree with Calipari’s comments about playing in any other conference.

“It’s funny you hear him say that, right? Like, they don’t want to be in another league. ‘Well, you guys would have been good in another,’ — What does that even mean?” Paris asked the media during his postgame press conference. “I mean, we’re in this league, and this was the best league, and this is the best league in the history of college basketball they’re saying, by any metric that you would like to choose. Including your eyeballs.

“… There’s not some other world where we need to play in another league in order to win games. There’s another world that we play in this league, and those games go our way.”

South Carolina lost seven games in SEC play by five points or less, including three by one possession. If each those games would have gone their way, the Gamecocks would have won nine games in conference action. That wouldn’t happen, however, and South Carolina becomes the first SEC team to end their season at the SEC Tournament.

“Last year, we were 8-2 in similar games,” Paris said. “This year, we weren’t. They wanted to be in that [league]. There were some things that we that we didn’t pick up on quickly enough in order to win those close games. … I don’t think I would do the disservice to these guys.

“No disrespect to the SoConIf we were in the SoCon, I was in the SoCon for five years. If we were in the SoCon, we’d have a better record, too, maybe. I don’t know. We’re in the SEC and we play SEC teams.

Arkansas finished the season 8-10 in SEC play, giving the Razorbacks the No. 9 seed in Nashville. They tied with Mississippi State, Georgia and Vanderbilt with the record, but earned the highest seed of the group.

As Arkansas adnvances to the second round, they’ll gear up for a matchup against No. 8 seed Ole Miss on Thursday. The matchup will tip-off Thursday’s slate inside the Bridgestone Arena, and is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. The SEC Network will carry the entire day’s broadcasts. The winner between Arkansas and Ole Miss will advance to the quarterfinal, where No. 1 seed Auburn awaits.