COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s 2022-2023 basketball schedule tips off with an exhibition game on Nov. 2 against a Mars Hill team led by former Gamecock Larry Davis.
The game will give fans their first look at the first Lamont Paris team at South Carolina. Paris hopes his first exhibition game in Columbia will go better than his first exhibition at Chattanooga.
Paris’ very first game as the head coach of that program was an exhibition game against Francis Marion University. T
The Patriots are led by head coach Gary Edwards whose resume includes head coaching stops at Charleston Southern and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. At IUP, Edwards guided that program to a 206-88 mark, including five 20-win campaigns, three Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles, and four trips to the Division II national tournament. Under his guidance, IUP advanced to the Elite Eight twice (2000 and 2002) and participated in the 2002 Final Four. He left IUP as the winningest coach in that program’s long history.
One of Edwards assistants at IUP was Lamont Paris who was an assistant there from 2001-2004. So, Paris thought it would be fun to host his old boss in his first exhibition game as a head coach.
But with the Chattanooga program in transition and FMU playing loose, that exhibition game was a competitive contest. Then, Paris watched as his good friend called for a 1-3-1 zone defense. The only problem was Chattanooga did not have an offense installed yet for this particular zone and it led to Edwards and the Patriots leaving Chattanooga with a win.
At some point, Paris might just bring Edwards and FMU to Columbia for a chance at redemption.