What Lamont Paris said after South Carolina's loss to Ole Miss

Following a 72-68 loss to No. 19 Ole Miss on Wednesday, South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris spoke to the media after the game. Below is a summary of what he had to say.

— They find theirselves in a situation that is unfortunately a familiar situation. You play a really good team. You play a pretty good game. And then there’s one or two things that end up being your Achilles heel and you don’t win the game.

— It’s difficult to know what to say to the guys in the locker room. It’s frustrating. But even more than being frustrated, he feels empathy for what they’re going through right now. Just unfortunate to come up short.

— Still just trying to get better and manage those last three or four minutes in a way that you can be in control of the game coming down the stretch.

— It’s uncharted territory for him going through this losing streak. He comes in to practice for the next game ripping and roaring and feeling confident. That continues to be the case. It’s genuine belief in his team being able to go out and try to win a game. He let the team know that he feels for them.

— There’s nothing he senses is different in the final minute of the game as opposed to how they play the other 39 minutes. But he does remember at the final media timeout he addressed certain decisions they needed to make when they took the floor again. Other than that, he doesn’t sense anything from the guys with their mindset in those last minutes.

— There were a couple times where they didn’t make plays. Felt they got the ball to CMB in good situations with a couple outlets. They just weren’t able to perform the way they needed to. Ole Miss made the plays to win this game.

— On the possession with 22.2 seconds to go with a chance to tie the game, it ended up being a screening situation for CMB. If Ole Miss doesn’t handle that properly, he has options, first and foremost being going straight down to the rim to make it happen. Plan B is to reverse pivot and throw back to Jamarii Thomas for a shot. Either way, they wanted a quick score. If it was a two-pointer, it was a two-pointer. If Ole Miss doesn’t handle that properly, you may get a three-pointer out of it naturally. But CMB lost the ball at some point during his attack. And that was that.

— Didn’t think South Carolina played great defense at times, specifically when they fouled Malik Dia on an and-one opportunity. Paris isn’t a big and-one guy. Doesn’t want to give teams opportunities like that. Dia was aggressive, made some plays, also missed some shots. But he made plays when it counted.

— South Carolina typically gets to the free throw line. Pringle and CMB tend to get to the line when they’re inside. They thought that would be the case again going against Ole Miss. Thought they were strong with the ball, which helped them get to the line. But the games are going to be in the margin, especially for them. Missed free throws ended up proving pivotal in the loss.

— He was told that it was a common foul when Jamarii Thomas was put into a headlock by Mikeal Brown-Jones. And then there was a technical foul on Brown-Jones and South Carolina retaliated which gave them a technical foul as well. It’s a good lesson for cooler heads prevail. At the end of the day, only one team gets to talk trash by winning. It’s just not worth getting into it during a game in that moment to get a technical foul. That’s his own belief.

— CMB needs to bring the aggression. That’s what they need from him. In a crowd, he’s going to try and find the guy who’s open. Ole Miss was double-teaming from the low side near the basket to try and make things tough on him. But if he shoots 20 shots, Paris isn’t mad at him for doing so. Everyone on the team knows how unselfish he is. No one will judge him for taking too many shots.

Discuss South Carolina basketball on The Insiders Forum!