Gamecocks have lost 3 SEC games by 5 or fewer
Coach Frank Martin said Monday there was a major difference between his first year at Kansas State and his first at South Carolina.
When he took over as the Wildcats’ basketball coach in 2007, Martin said nine first-year players, including seven freshmen, needed to adjust to being on a new team.
“The difference is, we had two first-round (NBA draft) picks in those nine guys,” Martin said, adding that those two players could “save us on certain nights.”
Martin said that since the Gamecocks (12-11, 2-8 SEC) do not have first-round draft picks on their roster, the team needs more discipline to close out games. Including Sunday’s 66-61 defeat at the hands of Tennessee, three of USC’s conference losses have come by five points or fewer.
But after returning to fundamentals last week, the Gamecocks have made strides as a team despite their poor conference record.
“They’re invested in winning,” Martin said. “And when you’re invested in winning, it hurts when you don’t win.”
Freshman Michael Carrera is the Gamecocks’ scoring and rebounding leader, with 11.1 and 7.2 per game, respectively, after recording a double-double on Sunday. Carrera, who has led the Gamecocks in scoring for four consecutive games, attributed his recent success to the rest of the team.
“Everything’s about my teammates,” Carrera said. “Being able to find me, getting an offensive rebound — they’re doing a really good job.”
Martin said Carrera makes “a ton of mistakes, which is part of being a freshman,” but that his energy allows the coach to leave him on the floor.
“Michael plays with an unbelievable enthusiasm for the game,” Martin said. “He gives us a sense of toughness that our team is always looking for.”
But Carrera has suffered from a lack of leadership from the team’s veterans. The team’s guards in particular struggled Sunday, with junior Bruce
Ellington and sophomore Damien Leonard combining for just 10 points in 74 minutes.
Martin said he has tried to run a simple offense to avoid bogging his players down, but his team still breaks down in the face of resistance.
“Passing is a problem on our team,” Martin said. “If you can’t pass, you can’t be a good offensive team.”
Freshman forward Laimonas Chatkevicius and junior guard Brenton Williams did not take to the court at all against Tennessee. Asked after the game if there was a reason they sat out, Martin responded, “Did you think I should have played them?”
The Gamecocks are preparing for another challenging week of conference play, hosting LSU Thursday night before facing Alabama on the road Saturday. Martin said the Crimson Tide, one of the top defensive teams in the conference, will be a particularly difficult opponent for his team, which he called “offensively challenged at times.”
But the coach said short-term challenges will not affect his long-term goals for improving the team.
“We’re not here to run a 50-yard dash,” Martin said. “We’re here to run a long race. You can’t let stepping on a pebble, or whatever it might be, interfere with our focus of finishing the race.”