Former Gamecock faces USC on Saturday. ‘First time ever I don’t want them to win.’
South Carolina is taking a one-game break from the familiarity of the SEC on Saturday, but it’s not like something foreign will be thrown at the Gamecocks when they arrive at Oklahoma State.
Frank Martin has been around the Cowboys’ coach long enough to know what’s coming.
“As I’m watching his team play,” the USC coach said on a Thursday conference call, “I see them trying to play defense our way. They run similar offense to us. I also see a lot of Eddie Fogler in his team. It’s been pretty neat to sit here and study his team the last two days. I’m really proud of Mike.”
Mike Boynton stands in the way of a seventh win in eight games for South Carolina (10-8). That’s a fact that doesn’t rest all that easy on a guy who spent the early part of his adult life associated with the Gamecocks.
The SEC/Big 12 Challenge has matched Boynton against his alma mater. Tip-off from Stillwater, Oklahoma, is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.
“This will be the first time ever that South Carolina will be playing and I don’t want them to win,” Boynton said. “So that’s different.”
Boynton, who played for both Fogler and Dave Odom, averaged 4.3 points and 2 assists a game for USC from 2000-04. He made 125 appearances in a Carolina uniform, good for seventh-most in program history.
After assistant stints at Furman, Coastal Carolina and Wofford, Boynton joined the Gamecock staff in 2008. That lasted through 2013, Martin’s first season in Columbia.
“When I got hired here, Mike was on the previous staff and his wife was a nutritionist here,” Martin said. “I worked real hard to get the school to keep Mike on board in some capacity. Mike is a stud, as good a human being as I have been around, unbelievable family man, unbelievable role model for young people.
“The more time I spent here with him, the more I realized how beloved he is not just on this campus but in this community.”
When Brad Underwood left Martin’s staff for the top job at Stephen F. Austin, he took Boynton with him. Boynton eventually replaced Underwood as OSU’s head coach in 2017 after Underwood left for Illinois.
He’s 29-26 while in charge of the Cowboys.
“I am not into the whole prediction thing, but he had the mind, the work ethic, the character and the demeanor,” Martin said of Boynton’s career rise. “When you get these jobs, it’s not just about who you are and what you know, it’s also the people around you.
“Mike has obviously surrounded himself with quality people. He’s got all the intangibles. I am not surprised.”
Oklahoma State, an NIT participant last season, is 8-11 this year. It’s down to eight scholarship players after Boynton dismissed three Cowboys, including fourth-leading scorer Michael Weathers, for a violation of team rules. The Tulsa World reported a connection between the bootings and vandalism allegations.
South Carolina, 5-7 in nonconference play, is a game back of Tennessee and LSU for first place in the SEC.
“I know Frank personally and I owe a lot of my success in my career to him,” Boynton said. “I think he’s one of the premier, elite college basketball coaches in all of America. I think he does a great job. What you know with Frank is the team’s gonna be tough. They’re gonna have an unbreakable spirit and they’re gonna be a team that continues to improve over the course of the year.
“I think that’s been a fact that’s been proven over time. And I think that’s been no different this season. They’re playing their best basketball now. Other than Tennessee, they’re the hottest team in the league. We’re gonna see a big, physical team come in here on Saturday and we gotta be ready for the challenge.”
Not matter how unique.
“I got to remove that emotion for those 40 minutes, for that two-hour period or whatever it is,” Boynton said. “And after Saturday, I hope they win the rest of their games moving forward.”
Another connection: Boynton, a Brooklyn native, was once coached at Five-Star Basketball Camp by a 23-year-old Chuck Martin.
Shortly after Martin was hired as a USC assistant in 2017, he tweeted a classic photo of the two with the caption “He was my PG before he was your PG” and the hashtag #CircleOfLife.
This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 5:39 PM.
