Lamont Paris, Meechie Johnson Dish On What Went Wrong In Second Half Vs. Clemson

The head coach and leading scorer for South Carolina's men's basketball team break down the Gamecocks' gut-wrenching loss to their archrivals.

Although the final score won't show it, the South Carolina Gamecocks were the dominant team for most of their 40-minute clash against the Clemson Tigers on Wednesday night. Lamont Paris' squad was able to create multiple momentum-building runs and withstand the ones generated by their archrivals, and that eventually culminated into an 11-point lead with just 15 minutes remaining in the ball game.

However, the Tigers would ultimately turn the game on its head, outscoring the Gamecocks 39-23 the rest of way and winning 72-67. A somewhat dejected Lamont Paris opened his post-game presser by conveying that most South Carolina fans probably felt watching from home: they had their chances but let them slip away when it mattered.

"We controlled a lot of the game. I think that was fact, and then we just couldn't make some plays," Paris stated. "They got ultra-aggressive offensively in the second half attacking the basket. Very aggressive, and we relented a couple of times, and then we fouled a couple of times also, and then we got down towards the end, towards the nitty-gritty, and we didn't make any plays," Lamont continued. "We had a couple of guys that also missed a shot or didn't make a play, and we couldn't get over it. We were processing that internally. You could see that on a couple of guys here and there."

Meechie Johnson attempts a quick shot at the basket over two Clemson defenders (6th Dec., 2023) / Ken Ruinard | USA Today Network

Meechie Johnson was one Gamecock player who didn't have an off night on either end, scoring 26 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor and holding his primary matchup, Joseph Girard III, in check for most of the game. When asked what contributed to the second-half mistakes, the fourth-year guard pointed to a lack of cohesive play on the defensive end.

"Just probably not being as together on defense. Letting mental mistakes happen; offensive rebounds, fouling more, stuff like that, but we just weren't as together as we were in the first half," Meechie expounded.

As tough as a loss as this is, especially considering the opponent, South Carolina was eventually going to go through a game that came down to who made more plays in the game's waning moments. Although the ending didn't go their way this time, their head coach believes that being in more situations like this could be beneficial as the season rolls along.

"You're in a learning-by-doing situation, and so I think you have to be in those situations to perform in those situations," Paris said.

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