Lamont Paris talks about value of winning with gritty performance vs. Ole Miss

South Carolina has been the surprise of the SEC this season, and the Gamecocks continued their winning ways by defeating Ole Miss in a 68-65 nail-biter at home.

The Gamecocks are the fastest team to get to 20 wins in the conference this season and are tied with Alabama and Auburn for the top spot in the current SEC standings — and head coach Lamont Paris believes a win like Tuesday’s will go a long way in helping South Carolina achieve its ultimate goal with the postseason right around the corner.

Paris explained what that process is going to look like in the coming weeks.

“There are things that these guys can accomplish if they really, really, really want to,” Paris said postgame. “If they really, really decide that they’re going to, there’s some things that they can accomplish. It will start with watching film and looking ourselves in the mirror and saying, ‘Oh wow, I did that. That’s not what I normally do. Oh, wow, this is crazy. We can change that, and we can change that right there too,’ and hopefully growing from that.

“We’ve got to be focused on growth. That’s been my thing since I’ve been here is we’re constantly trying to grow. We’ve had tremendous amounts of growth throughout the season. Last year, if anybody remembers way back when, tremendous amount of growth. We’re growth oriented and we want to continue to grow and then once we hit our peak at some point, you want to ride it off into the sunset.”

Paris said that he isn’t sure when that day might come — but he sure hopes it isn’t until deep in tournament season.

Still, being able to grind out close victories in the SEC — especially against a capable opponent like Ole Miss — is a testament to how far the Gamecocks have come since the end of last year. With virtually no expectation other than being slotted in last place in the preseason media poll, the Gamecocks might be the hottest basketball team in the country right now.

To Paris’ point, however, he’s hoping that things will only continue to go up from here. He revealed that he challenged his team in the halftime locker room despite having a 13-point lead. South Carolina nearly blew that lead in the second half, but the Gamecocks prevailed — an experience that Paris believes will help his team down the line.

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