What Lamont Paris said at Garnet and Black Madness

South Carolina hosted its fan event Wednesday night, and Lamont Paris met with the media after to talk about the eve of the season starting.

On having this kind of event at South Carolina: 

“It’s good. That’s why we do this. It’s the first time guys get their names called and they come out, it’s the whole process of going back in before we come out again for warmups, learning the warmups. It’s a bunch of different things. The biggest part of it was that. I wanted guys to have fun. We did some things out there to play in front of people. It’s our first real crowd. It was a relaxed environment. We had some music going at times. But I wanted to be mature enough to try and get some stuff done. I saw some good things. 

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“We shared the ball, that was a big thing for us. We were communicating and talking. For me, evaluating something like this really has to do with things that are not really basketball things in terms of shot-making. It’s more about how we‘re communicating, are we huddling up when we need to? Are we getting information from coaches and dispersing it to each other? It was really effective in that way.”

On South Carolina point guard Meechie Johnson’s three-point shooting:

“Meechie has incredible range. It’s probably too good cause he defaults to shooting, I call it from the moon. He’s one of those guys. I don’t know what the characteristic is that allows you to do it and I don’t think it’s pure strength but he can shoot it from really deep and it doesn’t affect his form or his ability to make it. 

I don’t want him to default to play to that range, I want him to play to where he’s most comfortable and use that when he needs to. He’s been a shot-maker in this fall and glad to see him do it today.”

On having two evaluation points the last five days:

“It’s more about the process. We ease our way into it. We play against each other with no fans, we play against another team where there are no fans. That’s a different level of competition and guys are going to perceive it a different way. We play against each other with a relatively smaller crowd and we go into our exhibition game with a bigger crowd and a more game-like scenario. Then it’s on. 

I think we’re really methodical in how we build up to it. The biggest thing to evaluate is the process. I think we’ve handled it well so far. There were some fun and good basketball things to see but I was more evaluating seeing that process.”

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On Gamecocks’ forward Hayden Brown and his injury:

“He should be available. Hayden’s Hayden and I’m Lamont Paris. I don’t know what that’s going to look like. I anticipate him coming back when he feels really healthy and I always air on the side of caution, myself. I’d rather have him back and back when hes’ ready to be back than back and there temporarily. We’re not going to rush him. But i do anticipate him being back in some point in the near future.”

On what he saw from GG Jackson:

“He’s a really good passer, very efficient as a passer. He’s willing to do it, which is a rarity these days for a guy who has as many accolades and all the attention he has. It was really good to see that. He got some things in transition, which was good. There’s going to be a day when he affects the offensive side of the game in every possible way. Who knows where he’ll be when that happens? Maybe it’s here or maybe he’s moved on to another level at that point. I hope it’s here. But I don’t have any doubts he’s going to be able to affect the game offensively in a lot of different ways.”

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On South Carolina finally on the cusp of the season starting:

“It’s exciting to see it come to fruition that it’s almost here. We’re playing games. It’s a lot of phone calls. You have no idea how many phone calls you make once the transfer portal starts and you get a job in an attempt to field a team. Literally, you have no idea. To be here, finally, on us with guys are coming out for warmups, we’re jumping a ball and playing in a game-like atmosphere. It’s really exciting. I’m excited not only for me to go through the gauntlet of what this league is like, but I’m really, really excited for these guys and to see them be able to achieve their goals and dreams.” 

On Meechie Johnson’s leadership:

“He’s probably one of the more experienced guys we have. He’s played the most minutes at the high level and playing the point guard position. In 2022 that doesn’t just mean you have leadership qualities on the court. It often means I dribble the ball up the floor. He wants to embody what the traditional point guard is. There’s a lot of responsibility in doing that. Sometimes you have to be the shooter, sometimes you have to be the playmaker. You have to be the most even-keel guy on the entire court oftentimes. He wants to do that. He wants to embody that.”

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On where South Carolina is in recruiting:

“We’re probably going to be really involved in the spring recruiting someone who I haven’t watched play today. That’s where we are in this day and age in recruiting. I like where we are. The guys who have made commitments and not signed yet I’m exited about. I’m excited about where we are in our recruiting process. The number one characteristic to me and quality that determines if a guy is going to be good here is they really want to be here. They didn’t get talked into being here, no one tricked them into coming here. They really want to be here. We‘re still on the lookout for guys who really want to be here.”

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