LEXINGTON — Little-known fact: As a senior guard at College of Wooster, Lamont Paris averaged more rebounds (3.9) than assists (3.7).
Seeing the way he’s attacked misses as South Carolina’s head coach, not many will be surprised to hear that.
Paris scored the second crucial putback of his USC tenure on Wednesday by securing a commitment from Cam Scott, a top 35 prospect from Lexington who originally signed with Texas. Scott last week requested a release from his letter-of-intent to the Longhorns, citing private family matters and the desire to “stay close to my loved ones as I pursue the next steps in my basketball career.”
“Just some things going on, inner circle-wise. We feel it was the best decision for me to stay local,” said Scott, who had been accepted to his choice of major at Texas; his family had been preparing to move with him to Austin. “Things change, life happens.”
A week ago, Scott and his family decided one morning that a release from Texas would be best. They called Texas coach Rodney Terry that night.
“Coach Terry understood it,” Scott said. “‘Family comes first’ is what he told me.”
He told Paris he was coming two days ago.
Scott talked about his decision during a ceremony for several spring-sport athletes at Lexington High. It gave Paris a clean sweep of the past three No. 1 prospects in South Carolina — GG Jackson, Collin Murray-Boyles and Scott — and resembled how Jackson wound up at USC in 2022-23.
Like Scott, Jackson committed elsewhere (North Carolina) but changed his mind. Jackson pulled out of his pledge after 79 days, while Scott backed off eight months after his.
Each is an in-state product (Jackson played at Ridge View) who came back around to USC, which had been heavily involved in each’s original recruitment. Jackson, who wanted to play for Paris predecessor Frank Martin, decided that playing close to home was just as good as Chapel Hill, since he planned on being a one-and-done player anyway (Jackson just finished a strong NBA rookie year with the Memphis Grizzlies).
Coincidentally, each also wore No. 23 in high school. Jackson wore it at USC in his lone season; the number is currently open for next year.
Cam Scott's departure from his Texas commitment
Jackson had been pushing Scott to go to USC before he got into the meat of his first NBA season, Scott said. And once Scott decommitted from Texas, he began to see more reasons why he should listen. The Gamecocks posting a tremendously successful season crept into his thinking as well.
“It definitely became a factor once I opened my recruitment. To be able to see it from a neutral standpoint, it was kind of like, ‘All right, this is nice,’” Scott said. “I still felt like Texas was a good spot for me but once I re-opened my recruitment I didn’t feel there was a better choice (than USC).”
It’s a boost of star power for Paris’ third recruiting class and a player who could presumably step right into a vacant role. The Gamecocks lost leading scorer Meechie Johnson to the transfer portal (he went back to Ohio State, where he came from) and need a shooting guard.
Scott, at 6-foot-5, projects as a two guard in college. He scored a school-record 2,475 points at Lexington, also set the program record for steals and averaged 22 points last season when he led the Wildcats to their first state championship in nearly a quarter-century.
“Honestly, I thought I was going to come play with Meechie,” said Scott, who was born in New Jersey and spent some of his youth in Summerville. “Seeing him leave opened up another spot, but we’re going to work things out.”
Named all-state five times and the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year in each of the past two seasons, Scott joins Okku Federiko and Trent Noah in USC’s freshman class. The Gamecocks also have two vacant scholarships should they want to use in the transfer portal.
Paris was named SEC Coach of the Year and was a finalist for Naismith National Coach of the Year after guiding the Gamecocks to 26 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth this season. USC tied a school record for single-season wins and made the Big Dance for just the 10th time in 85 tries.
While Johnson’s departure stung and Paris is still seeking replacements for senior point guard Ta’Lon Cooper and senior power forward B.J. Mack, USC returns a wealth of strong pieces. Murray-Boyles was one of the best rookies in the SEC last season while Myles Stute, Josh Gray, Jacobi Wright and Zach Davis played integral roles. USC also redshirted Arden Conyers, a 6-7 guard who was the No. 3 in-state prospect in the same class as Murray-Boyles.
Cam Scott put pen to paper on Wednesday as he signed with South Carolina.
