South Carolina basketball preseason profiles: 2024-2025 Gamecocks

Lamont Paris’ South Carolina basketball team begins their season in less than a week. On November 4th, the North Florida Ospreys will travel to Colonial Life Arena for the opener, and the 2024-2025 Gamecock season officially will be underway. In the days leading up to the first game, GamecockCentral has been profiling each member of the team. Today we will look at the entire team ahead of next week’s season opener.

South Carolina Gamecocks (Predicted 11th place in SEC)

Last Season (tied 2nd place in SEC; 26-8 overall record, 13-5 in SEC, 6-seed in NCAA Tournament, 24th in final AP poll): 72.1 points, 67.6 points allowed, 43.9% from the floor, 43.1% from the floor allowed, 35.6 rebounds, 32.7 rebounds allowed

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The 2024-2025 South Carolina basketball team isn’t nearly as “slept on” this year as they were last year. After being picked to finish last in the conference during Lamont Paris’ second season, the Gamecocks shattered expectations by going 26-8 and making the NCAA Tournament.

Even so, this year’s version of the Gamecocks feels as if they are being undervalued again. The SEC media picked South Carolina to finish 11th in the league this year. However, in what could be the best conference in college basketball, nearly the entire SEC thinks it belongs in the NCAA Tournament. Lamont Paris’ team is no exception.

USC lost eight total players from last year’s team, but there is a chance the Gamecocks are better this season. Year three of the Lamont Paris era is marked by a roster that has a surefire NBA Draft pick (Collin Murray-Boyles), multiple big-time transfer portal additions (Nick Pringle, Jamarii Thomas, and Jordan Butler), several other key returners (Zach Davis, Myles Stute, Arden Conyers), and a potential freshman star (Cam Scott).

This year’s team has a heavy South Carolina flavor. Eight Gamecocks are from the Palmetto State, and three of them are from the Columbia area. Coach Paris and assistant coach Carey Rich have made the Palmetto State an emphasis, and it shows. The Gamecocks could even run out some lineups with five South Carolina natives at times this season.

During the team’s Wednesday scrimmage against Wooster, Paris started Jamarii Thomas, Zach Davis, Myles Stute, Collin Murray-Boyles, and Nick Pringle. Then, Cam Scott and Jacobi Wright were the first players off the bench. Arden Conyers, Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, Jordan Butler, and Morris Ugusuk all played between 11 and 18 minutes, too. Overall, those 11 players are longer and more athletic than the Gamecocks’ rotation from last season.

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During the 2023-2024 season, the Gamecocks played a slow, methodical pace on offense. While Lamont Paris isn’t likely to put the pedal to the metal all of a sudden, the personnel changes (especially Jamarii Thomas for Ta’Lon Cooper and Nick Pringle for BJ Mack) could lead USC to push the pace a little more often. There also are more consistent shooting threats available, meaning there could be more garnet and black perimeter shots incoming.

Defensively, Carolina should be good again. While losing Cooper’s on-ball defense hurts, the Gamecocks will be better at protecting the rim with Nick Pringle and Jordan Butler joining the squad. Cam Scott and Arden Conyers add some length, and Jamarii Thomas is a bulldog on the ball. Last year’s team didn’t go for steals or attempt to block many shots. Based on the new talent in Columbia, that will change.

The SEC might be as good as it has ever been this year. Because of that, an improved South Carolina basketball team might be fighting an uphill battle to win 26 games again. However, the Gamecocks don’t have to win 13 games in the SEC to get back to March Madness. An improved schedule (both in-conference and out-of-conference) will buoy the team’s resume.

The Gamecocks hope to follow up a record-tying 26-win season and 2nd-place SEC finish with another strong year. Another trip to the NCAA Tournament would mark South Carolina’s first back-to-back berths in the Big Dance since the 1990s.

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