Gamecocks squash Allen in exhibition
Frank Martin expected rough moments. With a senior out and six players about to make their debut, there were going to be times during Sunday’s exhibition with Allen that Martin would revert to his familiar head-in-hands pose on the sideline.
There were some forehead-wrinkling spots, but there were far more flashes of what Martin already knew – he has a complete team, and this season is going to be awfully fun to watch.
South Carolina rolled over Allen 71-43 in its last warmup before Saturday’s season opener, debuting its five-man freshman class and redshirt freshman TeMarcus Blanton, who sat out last season with a hip injury. The old guard led the team – junior Sindarius Thornwell scored 17, while Laimonas Chatkevicius had a double-double – and the Gamecocks won comfortably.
It was Martin’s first chance to see his troops in a public game (NCAA rules dictate a team can have another closed-door scrimmage, which USC did) and he spent the game rotating his bench.
“We played real hard,” Martin said. “Things that usually we’re not real good at early in the year, we’re actually pretty good at right now.”
All the newcomers played, with walk-ons John Ragin and Jarrell Holliman checking in for the final four minutes. Eric Cobb scored eight with 14 rebounds, while P.J. Dozier and Chris Silva had 17 boards between them, and the team had 69 rebounds. Blanton got a rebound and a stick-back on his first offensive series.
There was a lot to like, but also also a lot to work on.
Silva had the reputation of a rim-eater that would have fans unable to keep their seats warm since they’d be jumping up celebrating his dunks all the time. While he was a presence in the paint and all over the glass, every time he tried to go up, he was blocked.
USC had 26 turnovers, 14 from freshmen and six from McDonald’s All-American P.J. Dozier, who was 3-of-13 from the field. Michael Carrera fouled out with 10 minutes to go.
Martin brushed it off.
“We just came out and tried to play, to have fun,” Thornwell said. “We wanted to try to start off on the right foot and the right path.”
USC did so and prepared for its season opener on Saturday. Martin doesn’t know who’ll start, and doesn’t mind that he doesn’t know.
The Gamecocks, after three struggling years, have options.
“That’s the strength of this team,” Martin said. “I’ve been telling those guys from Day 1, ‘All hands on deck.’ ”
NOTE: Senior forward Mindaugas Kacinas did not dress because of back pain. It’s not serious and if it wasn’t an exhibition, he would have played.
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This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Gamecocks squash Allen in exhibition."