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What Lamont Paris said after South Carolina's overtime loss to Mississippi State on Saturday

imageby:Jack Veltri•01/25/25•

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Lamont Paris, South Carolina
Lamont Paris, South Carolina - © Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Following a 65-60 loss to Mississippi State 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.

— If it doesn’t break you, it’ll make you stronger. These losses haven’t broken his guys. They’ve played some really close games and all have not gone their way in a lot of different ways. Told the team after the game that he felt bad for them. But he was happy with how they competed and that their day is coming.

— Got a good group of guys. They want to win badly. There were just two handfuls worth of plays they didn’t make in the game. They have to play better at times. Feels for them. They’ll get back to business tomorrow. Knows their day will come.

— They threw some zone defense in there when they were down 14 in the second half. Wanted to stop the penetration at some point. That was a big part of making the comeback. But they also simplified some things offensively. They generated some good shots.

— They’ve had a string of games where they’ve made an abnormal play, specifically with Nick Pringle. Individually, they have to be better and more focused on what they need to do on a situation of a play. They missed a free throw intentionally and got it where they wanted to. It’s like they were 95 percent of the way there but got nothing out of it. Some of them are just some mistakes.

— Didn’t hear one word out of Jamarii Thomas’ mouth about coming out of the game, despite how tired and fatigued he was. Didnt anticipate Thomas playing 33-plus minutes today. When a guy is out for an extended amount of time with an injury, you typically bring him off the bench.

— It’s a challenge when they lose the close games that they have. Didn’t sleep after the Florida game. It’s not a true story, just a fact. Thinks his players are so impressionable. You have to keep in mind that they are looking at you as far as to how to handle things. Disappointment and failures can lead to tremendous growth if you respond the right way. Happy with this group and their internal makeup. They believe in one another.

— These are good teams that they’re facing. They’ve done it shorthanded in most of these games they’ve lost. So it’s easier for him because of who’s in the locker room and how they continue to respond to everything. They have to be positive. Believes the guys have the ability to win in any game they play.

— The guys know they have Paris’ confidence and full belief. But he believes the impact on them comes when it’s players saying something rather than when it’s a coach saying something. Having Collin Murray-Boyles playing his guts out at all time, he’s got an injury to his thumb. But he never heard for one second that he wouldn’t play. When you have a guy like that, he wants to help them achieve what they are trying to do. It’s very important to have those guys.

— Extremely happy to have Okku Federiko here. It just never worked out to where he was able to be here a ling time ago. It will be great, especially for practice to have him. He’s still getting the final eligibility to have him out there for games. His expectations are that he will enjoy his time here with the team this season and practicing with his teammates, which he hasn’t done yet. Happy that he’s here. But from a basketball standpoint, he hasn’t done one thing yet. So it’s hard to say what that would look like in terms of this season.

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