South Carolina men’s basketball assistant coach leaving for new job in Midwest

South Carolina men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris will be looking to replace one of his coaches.

Assistant coach Tim Buckley is leaving the Gamecocks’ program to take a job at Cincinnati, an athletics source confirmed to The State on Wednesday. TheBigSpur was the first to report the news.

Buckley has been on Paris’ staff since he arrived in Columbia two years ago but has ties to the Midwest, so a move back to Ohio made sense at this point in his career. He was the only USC assistant who wasn’t on Paris’ staff at Chattanooga, where Paris was before he came to the Gamecocks.

Before USC, Buckley was at UNLV from 2019-2022. He also had stints as an assistant at Marquette, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and was a scout for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves from 2017-19.

Buckley also was a head coach at Ball State (2000-06) and Rockford (1989-93).

The Gamecocks are coming off a 26-8 in Paris’ second year and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.

Paris will now need to hire a third lead assistant coach. Assistants Tanner Bronson, Eddie Shannon and David McKinley (a former director of player development who was promoted to assistant coach last summer after an NCAA rule change expanding staff size) remain on the staff. McKinley isn’t allowed to recruit off-campus, per NCAA rules.

Gamecocks to play Indiana

Another non-conference game on USC’s 2024-25 basketball schedule was released Wednesday afternoon.

The Gamecocks will play at Big Ten conference school Indiana on Nov. 16, both schools announced. It will not be a home-and-home, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.

“When it came across my desk, it was a no-brainer. Just getting an early, high-quality game on your schedule,” Paris told The State at the SEC meetings on Wednesday.

It will be USC’s first trip to Indiana since 1973 and fourth all-time meeting between the two schools.