Lamont Paris Provides Status Update on Myles Stute and Discusses Second Round Encounter with Tennessee
On Tuesday afternoon, the men’s basketball team of South Carolina completed their final practice session before their highly anticipated showdown against the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers the following night. The matchup holds significant implications for the SEC regular season title. It’s crucial to have top players available for such a pivotal game. Unfortunately, Lamont Paris and the Gamecocks find themselves once again dealing with the injury of Myles Stute, one of their top perimeter shooters and most experienced players, ahead of their clash with the Volunteers.
Coach Paris provided an optimistic update to the media after the practice session, stating, “He’s going to try to give it a go, I think. I mean, [it] seemed like he was good. I just, about 11 seconds ago, got the word from Mark [Rodger] that he felt pretty good today. So he’ll be available. [We’ll] see what that looks like.”
One beneficial aspect of this rematch between the Gamecocks and Tennessee is that both teams have gained insights into each other’s strategies since their last encounter on January 30th. While the game plan may not be identical to their initial meeting, Coach Paris emphasized the importance of preparation while maintaining focus on their core objectives.
“We did look at a couple of things just because you know [Dalton] Knecht had 39 points the other day on a fairly efficient day – At the same time, we held them 59 points [last time]. I think it wasn’t the first game on their home court. I don’t want to bank on being able to do that again,” Lamont remarked. “So, we’ve prepared for some other things, but yeah, our bread and butter is what it is; it is to sit down in a stance, try really hard to execute our principles and communicate and cover up for one another and fight really hard and then rebound. That’s our plan, and that’ll be our bread and butter tomorrow.”
South Carolina’s defensive strategy led to their success in limiting the Volunteers to 36.2 percent shooting from the field and 23.8 percent from beyond the arc during their upset victory in Knoxville. It remains to be seen if they can execute a similar plan tomorrow night at the Colonial Life Arena.
