His transfer to South Carolina was unorthodox. Now an injury puts more on his back
Alabama’s Riley Norris tried closing out, but it was too late. Tre Campbell had already made up his mind.
A.J. Lawson’s injury took a backseat Tuesday when South Carolina completed a 10-0 run and extended its lead to five over the Crimson Tide at Colonial Life Arena. The stretch was capped by Campbell’s catch and splash from 25 feet in the face of Norris.
More than seven minutes remained in the second half and the Gamecocks, now playing without their star freshman guard, had life thanks to a fifth-year senior.
Campbell’s Carolina career is about to get more interesting as it nears the finish line. He’ll be one of seven USC scholarship players available Saturday when the Gamecocks (14-14, 9-6 SEC) travel to Missouri (12-15, 3-12). Lawson (sprained ankle) is out, placing a burden on the healthy members of USC backcourt. Can they pick the scoring slack? Passing? Play-making?
It might seem like a daunting task — especially with Carolina’s slim NCAA Tournament hopes on the line — but for Campbell, it’s just another piece of adversity.
His is a unique college basketball story. Players are injured every season, but Campbell, with Georgetown in February 2017, tore his meniscus and patellar tendon — while on the team bus.
“We were going to Villanova,” Campbell said. “I was asleep on the back of the bus when we had an accident. I didn’t know what was going on. I was asleep, I woke up on the floor of the bus. I got up and I couldn’t really walk. My knee was killing me.
“They said I went flying like three rows ahead of me.”
College players also sit out every season because of transfer rules. But how many, before arriving at that next school, stay sharp with daily training at a local recreation center?
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Trinidad Rec in Washington, D.C. was Campbell’s home this time last year. Alongside professional player Devin Sweetney, a fellow D.C. native in between leagues, Campbell worked to strengthen his knee and game at the same time. Chris Howard, another D.C. product and former guard at the University of South Florida, served as the duo’s main trainer.
You can catch highlights of their grind pinned to the top of Campbell’s Twitter page. The video was posted March 11 with the caption: “I remember everything they said.”
“We competed every day,” Howard said. “When you are going through certain things like that, it becomes bigger than basketball. You need that good camaraderie around you, you need that family feel and I feel like every day that we got into the gym, it was bigger than basketball.
“Devin was getting ready to figure out what he was doing, Tre at the same time was figuring out what he was doing. It became, ‘We got each other’s back. I don’t care where you end up, you’re gonna be ready whenever you get there.’”
Campbell wasn’t on Georgetown’s 2017-18 roster, but the school still honored his scholarship as he worked toward a degree. Campbell’s goal was to heal, graduate and find a school that needed a one-year point guard.
But before South Carolina took Campbell’s commitment in April, the Gamecocks wanted to know more about his mindset than his jump shot.
“We never spoke about ‘I never got to show my game (at Georgetown),’ none of that nonsense because I think all that’s nonsense,” said USC coach Frank Martin. “His whole deal was, ‘I just want an opportunity to do this again. That’s it. And that to me was exciting because that’s somebody that’s someone looking to get back to something they really missed.”
Both Sweetney and Howard can attest to Campbell’s drive.
The 44 3s Campbell’s hit as a Gamecock? He made anywhere from 650-1,000 of those a week under their supervision.
“He’s a really hard worker, man,” said Sweetney, who’s played this season for the Washington Wizards’ G League team. “He would go to his rehab and come over to Trinidad, get a series in. We’d do ball-handling, we’d do shooting. We did a lot of playing. We did a lot of playing against each other.”
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When Martin recruited Campbell, a detailed account of the bus accident wasn’t all that important to the coach. All Sweetney knew was a major injury took place and there was a mission to return to a prior form.
(Campbell was a former four-star recruit who averaged 3.7 points and 1.3 assists a game in three seasons with the Hoyas.)
“I didn’t really want to dig up what happened as far as the injury,” Sweetney said. “I was two years removed from a knee injury. So I told him, ‘Your knee’s structurally healed. You gotta give your body a chance. You’re gonna be fine. It’s going to get better. You’re going to have less soreness, less stiffness. You just got to take it day by day. Rome wasn’t built in one day.’”
Campbell grew frustrated early when jumper after jumper kept coming up short. He lacked the leg power, a natural sign of someone coming off knee surgery.
“He had a bunch of days in the beginning where he just couldn’t hit the ocean,” Sweetney said. “Made great moves, but couldn’t hit the ocean. I said, ‘Tre, that’s OK. You gotta go through your struggles there. But once it breaks, you’ll be fine.’”
Cue one spring morning.
“Right around the time he was graduating with his degree from Georgetown, he came in one day and was just lights out,” Sweetney said. “That was kind of a turning point. And I knew it was gonna happen. I knew he was going to find his rhythm.”
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Campbell on Saturday will make his 26th start for South Carolina. He’s having a career year for points (7.0 a game), assists (2.4) and 3-point field goal percentage (39.3).
Lawson’s absence isn’t ideal, sure, but Campbell’s presence is a reminder to the Gamecocks that there’s hope for every situation.
“He told me about how he had his injury and everything,” said USC guard Hassani Gravett. “It’s bizarre, a bizarre story. But for him to come here and play the way he’s playing is huge for us.
“We appreciate all that he brings to the table.”
