{"id":49904,"date":"2025-07-31T11:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T11:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/49904\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T11:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T11:25:09","slug":"freshman-gamecock-guard-eli-ellis-embraces-low-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/49904\/","title":{"rendered":"Freshman Gamecock guard Eli Ellis embraces low expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBIA \u2014 Eli Ellis didn\u2019t come here to be quiet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m used to it,\u201d South Carolina\u2019s freshman guard said on July 30, when he and his large fellow group of newcomers (11 of the 14 players weren\u2019t here last year) were introduced. \u201cIf I\u2019m being really honest, I\u2019ve been in the spotlight since I was in seventh grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rookie, already a star for the way he filled the bucket and social-media accounts<\/a> in high school, spoke confidently but not chest-thumping, plainly but not provocatively. He knows what\u2019s expected of him and conversely, what\u2019s most likely not going to be expected by the outsiders.<\/p>\n

Namely, success. The Gamecocks<\/a> were walked all over during last season\u2019s banner year for the SEC and needed a telescope to see even the fringe of the wins they had just a season before that. As Lamont Paris enters a crucial fourth year, he knows that perhaps the worst thing his tenure could have had was a stellar season in Year 2, after a miserable Year 1 (that everybody expected, since he didn\u2019t have much on that initial roster).<\/p>\n

That NCAA Tournament<\/a> bid in 2024 showed the Gamecocks could compete, that they could be a player in the new age of college basketball. And it could be immediate, none of the building that the program\u2019s historical coaches went through.<\/p>\n

Then it was followed by another year seemingly illustrating USC\u2019s place in the world of college hoops; a 12-20 disaster that reinforced the notion that the Gamecocks may have a terrific season every now and again, but consistent winning is not in their DNA.<\/p>\n

Paris<\/a>, given a significant financial upgrade from last year\u2019s numbers to reinvent this year\u2019s team, heavily worked the portal and brought in five freshmen. Ellis, committed since November 2023 and never wavering in his pledge, is the most-known of all of them.<\/p>\n

Paris has already lauded his competitiveness and how he can channel it into improving every facet of his game. Ellis judged his defense as what\u2019s gotten the most improvement in summer workouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a hard worker,\u201d Paris said. \u201cFor a young guy, he just is really confident in what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s brought a quiet calm about embracing, yet ignoring, the expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand how pressure feels, what it looks like and what to expect going into a game where everybody doesn\u2019t want to see you win. And that\u2019s kind of the motto we\u2019re bringing along for this team, is nobody wants to see us win, nobody thinks we\u2019re going to win. That\u2019s been my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellis pointed out his lack of size, which turned off a lot of recruiters and opposing scouts from the tip. Then they saw him play.<\/p>\n

Ellis said his message has been brought to the rest of the team and each has bought in. Nobody expects the Gamecocks to be worth a flip anyway this year, so stick around and see if you can give them a nice plate of crow to sup on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re probably going to be put last in the SEC again this year, most likely, and that\u2019s where we want to be. That\u2019s where I like to be,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cEverywhere I\u2019ve been I\u2019ve been last on everything. And it never ends that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBIA \u2014 Eli Ellis didn\u2019t come here to be quiet. \u201cI\u2019m used to it,\u201d South Carolina\u2019s freshman guard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-49904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}