What Lamont Paris said after South Carolina's first SEC win of the season against Texas

Following an 84-69 win over Texas on Saturday, South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris spoke to the media after the game. Below is a summary of what he had to say.

— All the players and all the coaches are probably writing down all the things they did differently in their routine today. Paris said he wore new shoes today. Everybody probably took note of those things. Felles good to see the guys rejoice when they’ve been trying to do this so many times. They’ve been on the doorstep so many times. The body of work has been worthy of winning. Extremely happy for them. Really proud of who they have been during this stretch.

— For them to continue to have the energy, effort, and belief, it’s really impressive. That’s what he’s most proud of them for. Good game for the guys.

Stay on top of all things Gamecocks for just $1 per week—lock in this special offer today!

— When the lead shrunk down in the second half, you would always like to draw it up that way as a coach. It would be nice to coast to a 22-point win. But it helps them in film look back at what went wrong during that stretch and learn because it’s what has cost them in so many of these games. Thought they did a good job of regrouping, taking the moment in, seeing what they had done, then doing the things you need to do to bring the ship home.

— Thought they were really disciplined in staying to Tre Johnson and the basket. They talked at length about not fouling him when he shot the ball. Thought that was the key. Johnson was aggressive in the second half. But overall, felt like they did a good job on a guy who’s a tremendous talent.

— They focused on a couple of things during halftime, including what they had done well in the first half and how that was going to be hard to reproduce in the second. He talked to them about things they could continue to do efficiently. It’s not 0-0. You’re up by 18. It was just keep doing their thing. Respond if something happens. That’s how basketball is. Stick to the script and make the plays.

— Thought CMB was being really aggressive tonight. That was a generation of offense by in large by CMB to a tee. This was a good example of him being able to do that. The floor was really spread, especially in the first half, which allowed him to opt into scoring. He had some efficient moves. They were strong moves. He finished through contact multiple times. He did a good job of keeping his foot on the gas pedal to help generate offense for the team.

— Relief is a good way to put the feeling of getting this win. In a weird way, Dawn Staley probably experienced this when her team was undefeated for so long. It’s easy to be consumed by that and you’re not even looking at the performance necessarily. The relief is now they can take everything at face value. They can process things differently now that they’re not consumed by the one thing being the losses. You’re able to move forward.

Win tickets to Senior Day, South Carolina-Kentucky women’s basketball game

— He keeps things in perspective. People are going through some real things in life. But there’s probably been an unhealthy amount of breaking film down to the last degree. You’re diving deeper and deeper. You have to get out of it otherwise you’ll go crazy. He’s been able to do that recently. Tried as hard to be as positive as he could. Gives his staff a lot of credit for putting up with him. It’s nice to get to this point and try to get another win.

— The lack of turnovers was huge. They had enough of a buffer where they only had two at the break. It was nice where they had good points per possession and limited turnovers. That was a big key in the game. Texas brought some pressure in the second half. It got to them a little bit but the guys eventually calmed down. They really wanted to get this win. But they settled back down after Texas got within 11. Gives them a lot of credit for managing that run.

Discuss South Carolina basketball on The Insiders Forum!