The South Carolina men's basketball team will continue to be shorthanded, as it will be without junior guard Kory Holden for the rest of the season.
The transfer saw limited time for the Gamecocks, playing in just 14 games due to injuries, averaging almost 11 minutes per game. During his short time in garnet and black, Holden made an impact on the Gamecocks. He shot just over 32 percent from the field but less than 25 percent from behind the arc. He played well from the line, making nine of his 15 free throw attempts.
Head basketball coach Frank Martin made the announcement over the weekend.
Holden is a transfer from the University of Delaware, where he scored 892 points over two seasons. He sat out of the 2016-2017 season and took a redshirt due to NCAA transfer rules, but ended up having knee surgery during that time. He went down with a hamstring injury during the Dec. 19 game at Clemson, which was the one-year anniversary of his surgery and hasn't been able to recover since.
Following that Clemson game, Martin recognized how hard Holden has worked to get back to being a strong athlete, and this hamstring injury would be tough to bounce back from.
"My heart goes out to him," Martin said. "He keeps getting better every day, he's starting to feel better about himself, and now it's his hamstring ... but my heart goes out to him ... I know what he's battled with that knee, and I know how hard that's been on him, and I know how much pride he has and I know how good of a player he was before he got hurt."
Despite working to get back from his most recent injury, Martin said after the Auburn game that Holden has been frustrated with all of the injuries, causing him to make his decision.
"Over the last two years, he's been battling that injury thing, 18 months or so to be exact. He's in a frustrated place as an athlete," Martin said. "A good place as a human being, he's in a frustrated place as an athlete cause he can't get his body to respond. He's catching his breath right now is what he's doing."
Holden redshirted last season, leaving him with one final year of eligibility if he is able to overcome injuries and decides to return to basketball.