Cam Scott went to South Carolina for his family. Staying was for himself
When coach Elliott Pope first met Cam Scott at the end of a camp Lexington High hosted, Pope didn’t know much about the seventh-grader who just won the camp’s MVP award.
He didn’t know Scott would be a four-time all-state player for Lexington, help bring the Wildcats to a state championship his senior season or go on to sign with the hometown Gamecocks as a four-star recruit.
Pope didn’t have to know these things. He learned all he needed about Scott when the future phenom volunteered to pick up trash after the camp.
“I think he filled up three trash bags full to clean out the gym,” said Pope, the former Lexington High School boys basketball coach. “It’s little stuff like that. ... He’s a good kid. He’s a great human.”
Scott has taken on a selfless mindset for most of his basketball career. Once signed with Texas, he broke out of his national letter of intent and decided to stay closer to home under Gamecocks coach Lamont Paris. He did so, Pope said, because of family.
“His grandmother is of an elderly age, upper age, and being able to travel on a plane and do that 16, 17, 18 times to go see your grandson play, that was just kind of implausible,” Pope said. “Cam kind of had a family or fame moment, and he decided to stick with family.”
But after a freshman year at USC where Scott played 10.2 minutes per game and averaged 2.5 points, he entered the transfer portal. Scott was in the portal for 28 days, from April 1-29, before ultimately withdrawing and sticking with the Gamecocks.
This time, the decision was about what’s best for him.
“Seeing ... if I could fit into the program and fit in how they want me to fit in, we ultimately came to the decision this was place I needed to be,” Scott said. “No better choice than to come back.”
Scott struggled in his first season at USC. He shot just 27.8% from the floor. And his on-court time dwindled in SEC play to 6.8 minutes per game.
He seemed to have difficulty adjusting to a slower-pace system that Paris applies to his teams after coming from a Lexington squad that relied on Scott’s speed and ability in transition. It would’ve been easy to decide it was the place, not the player, and leave for greener pastures after USC’s 12-20 season.
But that’s not what happened. Pope said Scott’s decision never came down to the team’s lack of success or the system potentially holding his game back. His former player focused on himself and ultimately decided there was room for him to grow and improve.
“He called me about probably a day or two before it came out that he was going to be back in South Carolina to say, ‘Hey, I want to stay at Carolina for the next year and finish things there,” Pope said. “Which I think was a good decision, a wise decision, but definitely a lot of soul-searching, one hundred percent.”
Scott is not satisfied with simply coming back and trying the same things as last season. He said he spent the offseason in the gym working to be in better shape to compete in a physical SEC. He also went to New York and Texas — alone — to work with pro trainers to sharpen his game.
Beyond the work he put into improve this offseason, Scott is ready to put last year behind him and focus on the present. Conversations with Paris helped him see through last year’s struggles and have a vision for his place on the team this season.
“So he doesn’t expect us to be perfect, but for him to be able to help keep my head up and keep me looking forward, even though I may have been going through a little struggle ... just always keeping the energy up,” he said. “I feel like that’s where I played my role last year, and this year I look to do more of the same, but hopefully more on the court.”
It’s not yet known whether Scott will play the extended minutes some may expect of him this season. USC brought in 11 newcomers, including six guards who will be vying for the same backcourt minutes as Scott.
But with the sophomore back from the portal, he’s back to focusing on those around him rather than only himself, and finding where he can fit on the new-look Gamecock roster.
“I’m just carving my role, figuring out where the coaches want me to be on the court and how my impact is going to play with what we have this year,” he said. “I feel like I can fit into that middle ground where I can make plays to get shooters open, but also be a factor to help get an athlete open, get them in the space and continue to play our game.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2025 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Cam Scott went to South Carolina for his family. Staying was for himself."
