Frank Martin’s recent Twitter mentions haven’t been friendly. How USC can change that
After a feel-good kind of weekend, Frank Martin had some downtime Sunday evening.
The South Carolina basketball coach was upbeat to this point. While watching his son, Brandon, play at USC Upstate on Saturday afternoon and while watching local recruits on Saturday night, he heard nothing but positive things about the Gamecocks.
“It was good to (hear) the views of others,” Martin said, “that they respect how hard our kids work.”
USC, a bunch featuring three freshman starters, is on a two-game losing streak entering Wednesday’s home clash with No. 5 Virginia. Despite the 4-5 record, the Gamecocks are coming off arguably their best effort of the season at No. 4 Michigan. Perhaps that’s the lasting memory of the USC fans who greeted Martin with kind words.
Sunday night — after he was done with work and done with watching his Miami Dolphins lose to the Minnesota Vikings — Martin sat next to his wife on the couch. A Hallmark Christmas move was on, but the holiday spirit soon ceased.
Martin had opened his Twitter mentions for the first time in a while.
“I’m glad I don’t (usually) read that garbage,” Martin said Monday, “holy cow. ... Someone’s lying. Whether it’s the fans that approached me in person or the people that hide behind iPads and iPhones or whatever else to put stuff under fake names.
“I’m glad the people that I meet with face to face are as complimentary about our guys as I think they should be. Because we push our guys pretty hard and they’re not running away from it. I’m excited for who our team is and the growth that we’ve had over the last three weeks or so.”
The Gamecocks and Cavaliers (9-0) are scheduled for 7 p.m. tip-off Wednesday. UVa is the first top-5 team to come to Colonial Life Arena since No. 1 Kentucky rolled through town with a 15-point win on Jan. 24, 2015. The game is the first of two major opportunities this week. Rival Clemson (7-3) is in Columbia on Saturday afternoon.
How can Martin’s mentions lighten up? A win against the Cavs and/or Tigers would help.
“We have to be really aggressive,” said junior forward Maik Kotsar. “We have to show what South Carolina basketball is about. We have to show how we defend. We have to get stops on defense, we have to be really aggressive on offense as well, and find our identity and stick to it.”
The latter part of Kotsar’s statement echoed what Martin asked the Gamecocks at a recent practice.
USC has shown spurts of both good and bad this year. It’s 11th in the SEC in scoring offense and last in scoring defense.
“I don’t think we have (an identity) on offense or defense,” Martin said. “I asked the team that over the weekend. I said, ‘Every time we play, what are we good at?’ They couldn’t answer. I said, ‘That’s my frustration right now.’
“There’s not something that every time we play, we can say, ‘That’s what we did.’”
The Gamecocks, last in the SEC in field goal percentage, have poor spacing on offense, Martin said.
“That’s the biggest challenge with freshmen,” he said. “They’re used to playing with the ball in their hands and ‘Just let me go do my thing.’ And everyone else is in the wrong place.
“You do that against Virginia and Virginia’s gonna score 60, you’re gonna score 26.”
The Cavaliers, backed annually by Tony Bennett’s famed Pack-Line defense, are allowing an NCAA-low 51.2 points per game.
USC, at 72.4 ppg, are No. 210 in scoring defense.
“We’re still trying to find personality on this team,” Martin said. “It’s important that we keep pushing and eventually create a personality for this team.”
