As South Carolina men’s basketball is in the midst of a five-game losing streak, the buzz around head coach Lamont Paris’s job security continues to heat up. The Gamecocks now sit at a record of 11-13 overall and 2-9 in conference play, which places them near the bottom of the SEC.
In Paris’s four seasons with the program, he has produced a 60-62 record and has been to the NCAA Tournament once with South Carolina in 2024.
Prior to South Carolina, Paris was the head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, a Division I program in the Southern Conference. He had a record of 87-72 during his five years with the Mocs, which included an NCAA Tournament appearance and a Southern Conference title in 2022.
Coming off a 95–48 loss to Florida on Jan. 28, Paris spoke about the effort of the entire team in recent games.
“There's nothing to be proud of in that effort in terms of fight," said Paris. "At some point in every game, there's a point where you realize, probably, it's not going to work out for us."
Through the 2025-26 season so far, the Gamecocks are 2-9 in their last 11 games with three 20-plus point losses.
Junior forward Elijah Strong spoke about how he and his teammates deal with each loss after a 78-59 fall to Missouri on Feb. 7.
“A lot of the games that we lost were absolutely winnable games just due to controllable stuff that we did not handle," Strong said. “What I can do and what my teammates can do, we can, we can just keep fighting.”
The 2023-24 season was impactful in terms of Paris’ time being extended further with South Carolina. With it being Paris’ only winning season at South Carolina so far, going 26-8, the University of South Carolina approved a six-year, $26 million deal in March 2024.
Paris is under contract with South Carolina through the 2029–30 season. According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, if Paris left in 2025, his buyout would’ve started at $12.5 million and would continue to decrease until hitting $1 million at the end of the contract.
Redshirt senior guard Meechie Johnson spoke about the pressure on the men's basketball program.
“He's definitely been on us more," Johnson said in a 247 Sports article. "Coach Lamont Paris always wants to win games. He obviously has pressure to win.”
Johnson defended Paris and his coaching style, noting that his approach played a role in Paris earning SEC Coach of the Year honor in 2024, while also shifting responsibility onto himself and the team.
“Coach Paris is doing a great job, he's coaching us hard and wants to win games. People can put more pressure on me, put it all on me, because he's allowing us to play,” Johnson said in a 247 Sports article.
Despite the successful season, 2024-25 did not follow suit. The team finished 12-20 (2-16 SEC), which included a 13-game losing streak in conference play. The Gamecocks then went through major roster changes, as six players transferred out, and six new players joined the roster.
Changes were made to improve, but that improvement had not been showcased.
Along with roster changes in the 2025-26 season, Paris and the coaching staff have been tweaking offensive plays and approaching the conference games differently. For example, heading into the Feb. 3 game against Texas, the Gamecocks changed their offensive approach, mirroring Texas’ attack inside. Still, making the change wasn’t enough to pull off a conference win against the Longhorns.
Even after the Florida loss, when asked about different approaches to this far in the season, Paris said challenging the players is the difference to make.
“I think you have to be challenged. I don't think you can just put your head on the pillow and say, 'Okay, well, tomorrow will be better, tomorrow, I'll just play better tomorrow,'” Paris said. "I just don't think that this is the path forward, not realistic, not in this league, not in this league, or probably any, but certainly not in this league, trying to continue to find what those buttons are to get guys to, one to play better.”
For South Carolina, changes have been made on and off the court. From mindsets to players being shifted, the coaching staff around Paris has stayed pretty consistent and familiar. Assistant coaches Tanner Bronson, Eddie Shannon and David McKinley have been with the Gamecocks since Paris was hired in 2022, following Paris from Chattanooga.
Special assistant to the head coach Carey Rich has been in Columbia since 2022, Assistant coach Will Bailey rejoined the Gamecocks in 2024-25 after coaching at South Carolina from 2020-22 and at Loyola University Chicago in 2023-24.
Laying out the past four seasons for the Gamecocks, the pieces of the puzzle have consistently failed to fit together. Change after change continues not to be enough to lead the Gamecocks to a winning record, which continues to turn up the heat on Paris as South Carolina’s head coach.
With eight regular-season games left, all being conference games, South Carolina has little room left for continuous trends before March comes.