First-year coach says he needs to do better job of preparing his players
Even with a one-point lead at halftime of Saturday’s game against Georgia, USC head coach Frank Martin was not pleased with his team’s performance.
“I thought we had no desire to play the game,” Martin said of the first half.
Sure enough, the Bulldogs came out in the second half and took command en route to a 67-56 victory over the Gamecocks.
It was the second game in a row in which the Gamecocks struggled to stop their opponents. The second half has been a particular problem for USC.
The Gators made 56.7 percent of their shots in the second half of their 39-point blowout win last Wednesday, and the Gamecocks allowed UGA to make 60.9 percent of its shots in the second half.
After the game, Martin placed much of the blame on himself.
“I have done just a poor job this past week of getting our guys ready to play,” Martin said. “I have got to do my job a heck of a lot better. (UGA head coach) Mark (Fox) did a much better job of preparing his team than I did.”
The first-year coach added that his coaching staff has “been on me” about getting guys ready to play but would not expand on any details.
Martin said that he and his team have simply failed to step up over the past couple of weeks adding that they have not understood that games get harder as the season goes on.
“You have to have an unbelievable amount of courage, discipline and toughness so you can deal with the games,” Martin said. “Obviously this past week, we did not answer the bell.”
However, there has been one common positive theme over the two-game slide, and that is tremendous play by freshman forward Michael Carrera.
The Venezuelan native scored 15 of his team-high 16 points in the first half to go along with seven rebounds and three steals against the Bulldogs. Carrera was the only USC player in double figures against UF with 13 points.
Martin said that Carrera was the only reason the Gamecocks stayed in the game for as long as they did.
“The only reason that we were even where we needed to be was because of his energy, enthusiasm and toughness,” Martin said. “Outside of him, have you seen anyone else on the team get an offensive rebound this week? Is that their fault? No, it is my fault because I haven’t paid attention to it.”
On the other hand, USC could not contain UGA star Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Pope scored the first five points of the game for the Bulldogs within the first three minutes and finished the contest with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and three 3-pointers.
“He’s a good player,” junior guard Bruce Ellington said of Caldwell-Pope. “He got hot in the first half and they kind of made a couple runs on us.”
Despite the defensive struggles, USC had its chances to take control of the game. Neither team led by more than four points in the first half and the Gamecocks were hanging to the slim lead thanks to eight Bulldog turnovers.
USC came out cold in the second half, letting UGA to go on a 17-8 run that allowed the Bulldogs to take a 46-38 lead with just less than 12 minutes to play in the game.
Ellington brought USC back to within two points after making a 3-pointer and an old-fashioned 3-point play. However, UGA responded with five quick points, and the Gamecocks were unable to get any closer than four points the rest of the way.
“We continued to fight, and although we didn’t come out with the win, we just have to build on that and continue to go to practice the next day and just work,” Ellington said.
On his own lack of preparation, Martin said “we’ll fix that.”
“When I don’t do my job, I am a big boy,” Martin said. “I look in that mirror, and I tell that guy the truth.”