What Lamont Paris said during mid-summer South Carolina update

South Carolina men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris met with the media Monday morning for the first time in some time and provided an in-depth mid-summer update on his squad.

Below is a summary of what Paris had to say…

— Gave the guys 4th of July off. Have done three weeks of workouts and then have five weeks left after this week. Really excited about having the group come together and learn from one another and about one another. It’s a really good group. “Couldn’t be more excited to get started.”

— Building team chemistry is a process, that’s what the summer is for. Have more key contributors returning than last year and that helps. Played well together last year and guys played for one another, which was a big part of the success of that group. Won’t be able to do an overseas trip because we can only do it once every four years but do have more guys back who understand what we’re all about.

— We again will have an older group and aspire to have an older group as we move forward. There will also always be some younger guys in our plan. Looked to address some specific needs this offseason due to the departures from last year’s team.

Were also looking to add some athleticism, which we think we did. It may look a little different. Don’t have an interior guy who is as skilled from the perimeter as we did with B.J. Mack last season. But we have some guys that have some other qualities that will be really helpful as we try to compete. Really happy with the group and what we were able to add.

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— I said this last year… You probably haven’t heard of Arden Conyers if you didn’t closely follow basketball in the state of South Carolina. But my anticipation was, with some of the things that we had seen, that in two years, anybody who is following SEC basketball will be saying his name a lot. He hasn’t disappointed. He’s on a very good trajectory right now.

He really took advantage of the redshirt year last year. It can be a difficult year but he’s doing a lot of good things. He’s a versatile guy and has shown signs of explosiveness from an athletic standpoint. He is skilled and can make shots.

When you’re redshirting you’re not paying a lot of attention to our defense because you’re providing a look of an opponent for our team. But excited for him to be in the mix. His redshirt year was extremely productive. Anticipate him having a great chance to play a significant role.

— The search for a new assistant has been a good, thorough search. Being completely transparent we were in a spot where we didn’t have to rush it. We’ve gotten some commitments for 2025, not 100 percent sure we’ll take another but we may. But getting someone to hit the ground running from a 2025 recruiting standpoint wasn’t quite the urgent need, so wanted to make sure we spent time with our guys and got the summer off to a great start.

Have made really good progress and anticipate making an announcement soon on the direction we’ll go. Was really interested in familiarity with me and what we do. I like guys who can teach, guys who work hard, and guys who are loyal. Excited to announce something soon.

— It’s been a great transition for Cam Scott. We’ve got some older guys and a lot of in-state guys, which has helped him. We have high quality, high character guys. Our older group has done a really good job of encouraging him to be who he is as a player and person. They have embraced him with open arms.

He’s flourished this summer. Our goal will be to help a young guy like that who has shown supreme talent to get as close to his ceiling as he can. You can’t get to his ceiling in one year (because his is so high) but our job is to help him get as close to his ceiling as he can.

He’s got great feel for the game of basketball. That will help the game slow down for him. The pace and speed of the game is drastically different than high school but he has such a good feel that it slows down for him. He’s an incredible listener — that I’m saying that so early (is good) because he’s locked in on learning and asking questions.

He wants to be really good. He knows the pathway is to learn some things and he trusts us. He puts what we teach into his game really quickly. That’s very difficult to do but he can do that. He’s an SEC player in every way physically. He can shoot the basketball and he is long and athletic. He is a cerebral guy and has a thirst for knowledge. He loves basketball.

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— It’s hard to imagine Collin Murray-Boyles being any better physically than he is right now. He’s at an optimal explosiveness and body comp and strength. It’s about as good as it can get from a physical standpoint.

Morris Ugusuk has made some strides physically. He’s spent a lot of time in the gym shooting. He was in a place where we were saying it’s going to be hard as a young guy to play relatively sporadic minutes. He’s hit the reset button and is grinding.

Both of those guys have great attitudes and are in a great spot. They’re still young guys but they’re also helping the newcomers to the program in knowing what we’re about. Excited about them both. Both have great opportunities.

CMB was All-Freshman but he still has an incredible ceiling. He’s naturally unselfish which is a great quality but going to encourage him to be more aggressive and to generate offense for himself. It will take some time for him to evolve into that. Once he gets good at that, teams will try to take that away, and then he’s a great passer.

Will need to continue to develop what his “go-to” will be and what his counter is off of that. Want him to continue to improve his confidence as a shooter. He has really good touch and want him to explore that this summer and see what it looks like so that we’ll know this season and won’t be out there guessing. Looking forward to helping him grow in those areas.

— Recruited Jordan Butler really hard out of high school. He fits right in with what we want to be offensively. We welcomed him with open arms when the opportunity was there to come back. He’s dripping with potential.

I’m not sure he’s even aware of what it could look like for him one day in its purest form. Part of my job is to help him see that. He’s really skilled. Trying to help him go from a guy who says I can make shots to I do make shots.

When you make shots like that, you don’t have to say it, other guys will say it about you. He’s a really good passer and is comfortable around the perimeter. He’ll be able to score at the basket one day. It’s on the table for him. He can handle the ball for his size. We really liked him out of high school. Was really impressed with what he did last year defensively.

— We haven’t talked with the team about expectations. It’s a little premature for that. The focus during the summer is to come together as a team and play a lot of 5 on 5 alongside each other. We lost some leadership guys via graduation and transfer.

Meechie Johnson used to break us down at the end of practice. Jacobi Wright, Myles Stute, a variety of guys have done that. Nick Pringle is a naturally vocal, high energy guy who is involved in everything.

But even last year the leadership was by committee and like it that way. All of those older guys led in their way. We have the makings of another strong group of dynamic personalities so that when they say things people will listen.

— On point guard battle: Jacobi has been a huge part of what we’ve done and knows the system. He’s comfortable with what we do and the expectations. He’s a guy in the mix. Jamarii Thomas was brought in with the expectation of competing for that role. Ugusuk has been in the program and I would not discount Austin Herro as another guy. We put him on scholarship and he earned that. He’s a scholarship guy now.

There are some outside the box things. Joked with Cam Scott during the recruiting process that he thinks of the game like a point guard. We will see what that looks like when some older SEC guys are trying to guard him fullcourt. He’s got a good feel and passes well and can see over guys. Will be fun to see who emerges.

— On assistants Tanner Bronson and Eddie Shannon: Both of those guys are good teachers. The players trust what they say and they’ve earned that. I’m not big on bringing an assistants just because they’re attached to a prospect or area. I want guys that teach and coach.

The bulk of what happens in 1-on-1 situations is with the assistants. I enjoy that part too, it’s the most fun part, but our assistants interact with the players at a really high level. They’re not “friends” with the players but they’re not perceived as the “gatekeepers” either. They’re here to help. They’re really good at identifying and pursuing the type of players that we feel fit our program.

— On it feeling like 110 degrees in Columbia yesterday: “Perfect quarterzip weather. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

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