Maturity the focus as Gamecocks wrap nonconference season

South Carolina expectedly blew out Lander in its post-Christmas return, but coach Frank Martin wasn’t satisfied. The second half featured the Gamecocks going through the motions, which should never happen.

For USC (10-2) to be as good as it can be, there can’t be any layoff. And he would expect the older players to know that, express it and guide the freshmen through it.

“We’re a good team. We’ve had great moments as a basketball team,” Martin said. “But our challenge, for us to become as good as we’re capable of being, is maturity from the older players. We don’t have enough of that yet.”

The coach was pleased his team responded well to being brought back on Christmas night. They held a brief workout, then practiced well the next day. The first half against Lander was outstanding.

But the Gamecocks didn’t sustain it, and Martin knows too well how playing just one half going forward can hurt. USC has 19 regular-season games remaining, beginning Friday at Memphis, and things don’t get easier in the SEC.

He knows his team is young and many of them don’t know any better. He knows they’re without a key player for at least one more game.

Doesn’t matter.

“We’ve played a pretty hard schedule, we’ve got another hard one coming up here,” Martin said. “We’ve pushed these guys, for as young as we are, to the limit.”

A lot’s changed since USC beat the Tigers by 10 in Columbia last year, the Gamecocks holding on at the end of a 68-foul slugfest. Memphis coach Josh Pastner spent much of his postgame news conference lobbying for Martin to receive a contract extension (Martin did at the end of the year) and Pastner was also given a lifeline despite missing the NCAA Tournament.

A whopping buyout was the cause for Pastner staying, yet less than a month later, Georgia Tech took Pastner off Memphis’ hands. The Yellow Jackets (who ended the Gamecocks’ season), hired him while Memphis replaced him with former USC assistant Tubby Smith.

Smith walked into a good situation, with star Dedric Lawson returning to school after testing the NBA waters and his brother, K.J. Lawson, returning to full health. The Tigers have been solid thus far, although they lost their conference opener and aren’t tremendously deep.

Duane Notice discovered his missing jump shot against Lander and freshman Rakym Felder scored a career-high 20. That finally gave P.J. Dozier some help, which he’ll need more of Friday night.

That and the maturity from the vets Martin requests.

“They got a first-round pick in the kid Lawson. His brother’s real good, too,” Martin said. “Tubby’s got them doing what Tubby does. You get better by getting challenged.”

This story was originally published December 29, 2016 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Maturity the focus as Gamecocks wrap nonconference season."