Everything Lamont Paris said previewing South Carolina's rivalry matchup against Clemson

South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris spoke to the media on Monday to preview the team’s upcoming game against Clemson. Here’s everything he had to say.

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On how excited the team is to face Clemson

“It’s the next game. We’re excited about playing a good team, a really good team – that’s not to insinuate anyone that we have played is not good. But it’s an in-state game, it’s another… We’re playing a mini-ACC schedule on the side of what we got in the SEC. It’s Clemson. So, there’s a lot of reasons to be excited. And you got a good team. They’re not good because someone ranked them, and they put a little number next to them – to the eyeball, they’re good. They have good players, they do good things. They do winning things. So, it’s a great opportunity for us. We’re excited about it.”

On how South Carolina plans on shutting down Clemson’s star players

“We got to just continue to get better at the things that we do. There’s no secret sauce to getting those guys stopped. Chase Hunter‘s obviously a talented player, really aggressive. We just have to compete more than anything in this game – I think it comes down to that. I don’t think you have a chance with them if you’re not ready to compete. I also think, if you’re not ready to compete at the age of these guys, then what are we doing here?

“But I think you have to go outside, making it be really intentional about being ready to go out there and lace them up. Be ready to scrap and claw and fight because they’re going to do the same thing. And then, follow your principles and your rules that you’ve learned, allow you to be successful. And then, the final component of it all, you hope you play. You hope, when you generate these, shots that they go in. You hope that things that you see and passes that you try to make don’t end up as turnovers. So, there’s a component also of playing well. But, at the end of the day, I think that’s actually, amazingly enough, down the list.”

On Morris Ugusuk’s development during his sophomore year

“We were hoping that he (Morris Ugusuk) would be able to play a bigger role for us. It’s amazing what confidence will do for you. He’s earned every second that he’s gotten, just in terms of, one, he learned how to allow the game to just play while he’s in there. And I think he learned pretty quickly that he didn’t have to make a bunch of shots or do a bunch of things offensively to find consistent minutes. And then, while he earned those minutes, he did play well. He knows how to find situations that are good for him. He’s been the beneficiary of some good ball movement and some good spacing and some good shots, and he’s taken advantage by making those shots.

“But it’s amazing what confidence will do for you – he’s very confident right now. (He) had a tremendous practice today, and he was actually portraying Chase Hunter – and did a really good job. It was hard to stop Mo today. It’s really good to see a young guy develop.”

On how South Carolina has addressed repetitive mistakes on defense

“If there’s a, let’s say, a ball screen coverage, and in this ball screen coverage, I’m encouraging the ball to go to the weak hand – that’s the perimeter part of it. And then, the big is anticipating that the guard is sending him to the weak hand, as an example. And then, all a sudden, the ball handler allows the guy to go to a strong hand. We’re already set up for the other. And now, we have to, on the fly at full speed, make an adjustment. That’s something that, you have a lot of say, is very repeatable.

“So, if there were if there were a 100 of those scenarios, in 90% or better – at least 90%, I ought to be able to get that done. So, while your if your success rate is 60% in terms of getting you to go the right direction, that’s no good, right? Because then, once you get him to go the way that you want him to go, then life happens, and you got to try to figure it out – and good things happen and bad things happen. But it all is predicated upon the guy going where we’ve all expected him to go.

“There’s a host of 10 other things as examples that would be pretty controllable, very reproducible, take concentration, take a little communication. So, when you’re not doing those things consistently, it generates some level of frustration. Am I not concentrating in order to do those (things)? Do I not care enough, or believe in that particular thing enough, to do them? Because if someone said, ‘I’ll give you $10 million for every time he ends up going the way that you want him to go,’ you get him to go that way almost every single time – you just would. Those are the things that I talk about when I mean those specific defensive things.”

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On scheduling the South Carolina-Clemson game while class is in session

“I mean, we have done that. We did that last year, I think, right? It was early in the season. I don’t get too much into the woods with that. Sure, it would be nice. We’ll still have some students who’ll be around – some local kids. And they’ll have some people with kids that travel down here, too. But it would be nice to do it when the kids are in school. I think all the games are made more fun when you have not only a crowd, but a crowd that involves students.

“But it’s hard – you’re playing more games in your league. I think they’re playing 20 conference games. We’ve got 18. We’ve talked about going to 20, maybe, one day. It’s just, the more you start doing that – the MTEs, all that kind of stuff – you have less control over when some of these games… You got the SEC/ACC Challenge. It gets harder and harder to find days that you can squeeze these games into.”

On Paris’ excitement heading into his third matchup against Clemson

“Yeah, the games have been good. I mean, we won on a buzzer beater two years ago in my first year. And then, last year was another good game, a close game. They had a really good crowd there. So, it’s fun. A rivalry game is always fun – it’s always exciting. I’m looking forward to it. I think (Clemson head coach) Brad (Brownell) and I tried to make a pact that the home team would always win, so it’s held up to that. I don’t know if he’s going to hold up to his end of the bargain this year, but it would be nice if he did.

“But, in all seriousness, it’s a fun game. It’s always good when when the teams are good, also. Last year, I think we were both undefeated going into that game. This year, they’re ranked, and we’ve played some really good teams. It’s a great opportunity for us and for them to go on the road against a good team. So, (I’m) really excited about it.”

On the best piece of legal advice Paris has received from Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk

“I haven’t gotten any yet. I haven’t needed any, knock on wood. But it is funny, every now and then, he’ll (Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk) throw out some legal jargon the other guys the guys don’t know. Like, ‘culpability’ – he threw out the other day (when) we were in there. It’s a neat thing, what he’s doing, and he’s got a lot of support for us. We’ve had a lot of flexibility with his schedule in order work for us. And he’s a great kid, too.”

On South Carolina’s ‘perceived relaxation’ heading into rivalry contest

“If you look at it two, three years ago, my last year at Chattanooga, we led the nation in most road games – true, true road games. We had the most wins in the nation. I think we had the most road wins in the league last year. I just have always believed in trying to approach every game the same exact way, whether it’s home, whether it’s away, whether it’s a neutral site, whether it’s against a high-major whether (it’s) against a mid-major, whether it’s against a ranked team or not, whether it’s a rivalry game or not.

“We have a way of doing things, of going about our business, that’s the standard that we judge everything against. I think just trying to get our guys in the mindset of that each one of these opportunities is business-related. It’s fun – trust me, there’s a lot of fun. But sometimes, the fun’s very deep down in there – it’s in disguise sometimes. But there’s not a lot of stress – this is not stressful. There’s some things in life that are really stressful – this is not one of them.

“I hope we play well. We’re going to play really hard, we’re going to be organized. But I learned this: loose muscles always perform better than tight muscles. So, when we go into the game, the hay’s got to be in the barn already, guys got to feel good about what their mission and what their plan is. And then, on that day you got to go play. If you’re relaxed as a coach, I think it’s hard for them. They’re going to pretend they always have it under control, and they’re relaxed. But they need to truly have real confidence in what they’re doing and how they go about their business and how to win the game. And then, all they worry about on that day is just playing – they got to play.”

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