Small-ball lineup plays to South Carolina, Eli Ellis' strengths

With just over eight minutes to go in Saturday’s matchup against Georgia, Eli Ellis grabbed a loose ball, sprinted down the court into the paint, hit a euro-step, and was able to draw a goaltending call against the Bulldogs. The two points moved South Carolina’s lead to eight, and though Georgia eventually came back and won, the moment was the peak of a new development: a successful small-ball lineup.

The freshman Ellis is no stranger to getting hot offensively: he’s fourth on the team with 10.3 points per game and one of just five freshmen in the SEC averaging double-figures. However, his success against Georgia came in an environment that maximized his potential. Lamont Paris took out his team’s traditional big men and played Mike Sharavjamts and Myles Stute as the team’s forwards.

“You’ve got to have some guys that’ll rebound if you’re going to be able to do that,” Paris said after the game. “And then you have to be getting paid off on the offensive end, which in today’s game we were.”

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Kobe Knox, who played at the three spot during the small-ball lineup, set a career-high with 10 rebounds. His 10 points on the afternoon marked his first collegiate double-double. But it was Ellis who got the crowd to its feet with seven points in under two minutes of action. He finished with 13 points off the bench, his third game in double-figures in the team’s past four contests.

“I think it’s a little bit of everything. Learning where your spots are, not spots on the floor but your spots to attack based on what the defense is doing,” Paris said. “I want him to be aggressive. He’s an aggressive-minded guy; I want all of our guys to be aggressive. Typically, when he is aggressive, more good things happen than bad things. We bet on that.”

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The small-ball lineup provided spacing on offense that a traditional lineup cannot afford. It forced Georgia to change up its own strategy on the defensive side of the ball. Despite struggling for minutes at a time in the second half, the lineup adjustment allowed for multiple scores in quick succession.

“The floor was extremely open because their five-man then had to guard either Mike or Myles,” Paris said. “So no five-man was just standing around the block the whole time, so that opened up things for the guys that wanted to attack aggressively. (Ellis) was one of them.”

Through 16 games played, the small-ball lineup exhibited Saturday has seen action in four of them. But in that small sample size, just seven minutes of game-time, the team has a plus/minus of +15. That’s while South Carolina is shooting 71.4 percent inside the arc and 50.0 percent from deep. Meanwhile, on the other end of the court, they’re holding opponents to just a 59.7 offensive rating.

Despite two seven-footers on the roster, South Carolina is going small. It’s complicated life on the court for opponents, but for Ellis, it’s done nothing but make the game simpler.

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