Lamont Paris updates point guard battle with multiple candidates in mind for starting role

Nobody expected it. Picked last to finish in the SEC. Who was going to take this team seriously?

But as time went on, things started to click and come together. By the end of the season, South Carolina had turned almost every doubter into something of a believer. In the span of a year, the Gamecocks went from an 11-win squad to 26 wins and making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.

A lot of success can be attributed to the talent and leadership on the floor. South Carolina went out and brought in a handful of players from the transfer portal, which worked out well. But it came with the notion it would, for most, be a one-year stint. And that’s especially true at one position.

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Replacing Ta’Lon Cooper is going to be near impossible. It’s not just what he did on the floor as the leading three-point shooter, but also as the veteran and leader in the locker room. Those are qualities much harder to replace.

But a few weeks into summer workouts, Lamont Paris has gotten to work on finding that next guy. It will never be what Ta’Lon Cooper was, but he’s got a handful of players that will compete at the point guard position.

“It’ll be fun to try to figure, that’s part of what this whole process is in the summertime. Just seeing who emerges in what role and what that looks like,” Paris said. “We had some guys that didn’t play at all last year that were extremely important, we had some guys that played sporadic minutes that were all over the place here and there. There’ll be a lot of guys out there. Everybody, honestly, will have a chance to prove what they can do.”

The easy candidate to fill the shoes would be a returnee. Jacobi Wright, now a senior, comes back to South Carolina as one of the veterans on the floor. He only started in one game last year, but as Paris pointed out, he knows what to do at this stage in his career.

“Jacobi’s been around, he’s been a huge part of what we’ve been able to do,” he said. “He knows systematically he’s comfortable with what we do and well-versed in what expectations are.”

But there’s also others who didn’t see huge minutes last season coming back with a chance to see much more action this season. Specifically, Morris Ugusuk and Austin Herro.

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Ugusuk averaged 10.3 minutes on the floor as a freshman and put up 2.2 points per game. He notably decided not to redshirt when he certainly could have. One guy that did exercise that redshirt and take in the action from the bench was Herro.

As referenced, Herro didn’t suit up at all for the Gamecocks last season. Though, he consistently practiced with the team and made strides in that way. Paris recognized that and awarded him with a full scholarship.

“I’m not big on the pretend transition from “walk on” to scholarship, the one that happens mid-year because you’re not going to take another player,” Paris said. “And so it looks good to say, ‘Hey, we’re putting this guy on scholarship.’ When guys earn scholarships to me, he’s a player. He’s going to be on scholarship from now on. He earned that.”

Then there’s also some outside help coming in to potentially play right away. Jamarii Thomas joins South Carolina for his first season from Norfolk State. In 33 games last year, he averaged 16.9 points per game on 40.4 percent shooting. And that could bode well for the Gamecocks this year.

“Obviously Jamarii is another guy that we brought in by way of the transfer portal with an expectation that he would go out there and compete for that role,” Paris said.

For now, though, Paris doesn’t have to make that decision. South Carolina still has months to go until the season opener against North Florida on Nov. 4. It may not be a one-to-one replacement for Cooper, but having multiple players able to step up is a good start.

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