Lamont Paris: "We're Not A Great Team Right Now"

South Carolina is searching for answers after they dropped their second straight game on Saturday due to a slow start.

Everyone knew South Carolina entered the season in a difficult situation. Head coach Lamont Paris and his staff were attempting to install a new system with a group of transfers and true freshmen, a formula hardly conducive to success.

Despite that reality, losing will be disappointing regardless of the expectations. South Carolina is on a skid of late, dropping several contests and looking relatively uncompetitive on both ends of the floor.

In that stretch, the Gamecocks have been dominated by Colorado State, Furman, UAB, and George Washington. While these programs have established basketball programs, South Carolina wasn't expected to lose all those games. At the minimum, remain competitive against each team.

That competitiveness is something that Paris noted in his press conference after the East Carolina loss as a trait that's absent with some of the players on the team.

"Guys have to compete better. It's foreign to me. We have some guys that don't compete."

The previous two games have only amplified this potential notion. At one point in the UAB and East Carolina contests, the Gamecocks trailed by 21 and 23 points, respectively. Rarely is a team going to find a way to win games in such dire straits, and South Carolina's slow starts are a big proponent of these deficits.

Against UAB and East Carolina, the Gamecocks, on average, were shooting 30.1% in the first half. Meanwhile, their opponents shot 47.5% from the floor in the same stretch. South Carolina has also struggled to develop a constant presence on the glass, compounding its shooting woes. 

Part of the issue in Paris' eyes stems from a lack of aggression from the players, something that's vexed him as a coach due to the amount of time it's taking away from him being able to discuss the game within the game.

"I want those guys to be aggressive. I hope I can get to a point with all of these guys that I can start talking about just the decisions. That's a basketball thing. We can work on that."

Even though it hasn't been pretty as of late, Lamont lamented after the loss against East Carolina that he'll continue to show up and work to make the team better by pushing them to their limits.

"I'm confident in this. I'm going to put my whistle on every single day. I'll be there every day with the same attitude, with the same fire, with the same energy, and with all the same challenges."

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