South Carolina basketball played a thriller last night against the number-2 team in the country. The Gamecocks took the Alabama Crimson Tide to overtime before losing as a last-second half-court heave almost went in. It was another loss in what has been a disappointing season overall. The South Carolina basketball team sits in 12th place in the conference and has a losing record.
However, if one looks closely, progress is being made.
For the month of February, the Gamecocks’ scoring margin is -10 total points over 6 games. That is not a good number, but it shows that the CourtCocks are playing in close games, something they were not able to claim earlier in the season. Lamont Paris’ team has been blown out by Colorado State, Furman, UAB, George Washington, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Auburn, Florida, and Mississippi State. In most of those ugly contests, the games were never very competitive. Recently, though, the Gamecocks have played a much tougher and more competitive brand of basketball.
Erik Haslam’s efficiency metrics agree.
South Carolina quietly playing better ball as of late in the #SEC. Gamecocks are #2 in our Momentum metric and have recorded positive efficiency marks in six of their last eight contests. This comes after recording just eight positive marks in their first 20 games. #SEC pic.twitter.com/ljs8jrvT7e
— Erik Haslam (@haslametrics) February 23, 2023
Offensive efficiency has been a bugaboo for the garnet and black during most of the 2022-2023 campaign. They rank dead last in the SEC (14th place) in field goal shooting percentage. According to kenpom.com, South Carolina is among the country’s worst programs in terms of the discrepancy between shot quality (essentially a rating of how often an offense gets good looks at the basket) and KenPom’s team rankings. That could be viewed as a negative mark against a team’s shooting, but a positive spin on the statistic indicates that the process of getting good shot attempts is working; the shots just aren’t falling.
Another sign of recent progress has been seen in the GG Jackson-Lamont Paris relationship. A partnership that had obviously soured just a few weeks ago seems to be on a much better footing in the last few games. Maybe the two are just pretending for the cameras, but it is possible that they worked out their differences. This would be a positive sign in case Jackson decides to remain in college another season but would also send a positive message to other high-level recruits that South Carolina basketball’s head coach is not too stubborn and egotistical to handle a disgruntled star.
Two of the only returners from last season, Josh Gray and Jacobi Wright, have taken large steps in their developments as basketball players during the last calendar year. Perhaps development will be a strong suit of the Lamont Paris coaching era in Columbia.
The season is not over yet, and things could change one way or the other during the final three regular season games and the SEC Tournament. However, it is just year 1 for Paris, and he was dealt a pretty crummy hand. Progress has been made this season, and Gamecock fans should give Paris the benefit of the doubt that it will continue.