Four takeaways: South Carolina men’s basketball media day
South Carolina basketball is inching closer and closer to its opener. And the Gamecocks hosted their first media outing of the season.
Thursday was local media day where Lamont Paris and players met with the media for the first time since practice started.
It was a flurry of information over the course of the hour-long session, but here are a few key takeaways.
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South Carolina needs to improve defensively
It’s one thing to mention it in the midst of an answer. But it’s another when Lamont Paris brings it up two or three times unprompted over the course of his time with the media. And he brought up needing to improve defensively multiple times, meaning that’s an area of concern for the Gamecocks moving forward.
The Gamecocks weren’t good defensively last year, No. 226 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 13 in SEC games. Things have to drastically improve, ad a lot of it comes with being able to guard one-on-one and the mentality that comes from it.
If South Carolina is going to take the next step then it’ll come on the defensive side of the ball. The Gamecocks just started to really install those defensive principles since practice started. So there is still plenty of time to improve.
This roster is closer to what Lamont Paris wants
The portal helps, but this roster is closer to what Paris envisions it to be and is much more capable of playing the style of basketball Paris wants.
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Credit some of that to the portal with Paris able to go after the skill sets–and experience–needed to play how Paris and his staff want to play. Does that mean the Gamecocks are going to win 28 games and make a run to the Sweet 16? It’s still way too early to tell.
But Paris and his staff seem very high on the potential of this group and being able to play more how Paris wants to this season compared to last.
South Carolina very high on its freshmen
The Gamecocks being encouraged by their freshman is something that’s been the case since the summer and that was reinforced again Thursday.
Paris echoed again how much he likes the young core South Carolina has with Collin Murray-Boyles, Arden Conyers and Morris Ugusuk. He even went out of his way too to say Ugusuk–who is expected to redshirt–is making that decision difficult.
Murray-Boyles is the most likely freshman to make an impact early but the Gamecocks are encouraged about the future of the program with this group.
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Josh Gray hitting his stride
Gray–speaking with GamecockCentral–comes off as relaxed and more comfortable than he was last year. Going into his third season at South Carolina and second year under Paris, Gray was cracking jokes and seemed not only comfortable but confident in being in the program.
Gray is coming off one of the best rebounding seasons in program history. Sou Carolina expects him to take a jump in consistency and as a player now that he’s in a system for consecutive seasons for the first time in his college career.
There’s still a long way to go, but Gray being comfortable is certainly better than the alternative with South Carolina expecting him to play a major role in that frontcourt.
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