Frank Martin ‘disappointed as I’ve ever been’ as USC moves from Stetson to SEC play
South Carolina basketball, after a brief break, was scheduled to resume practicing Thursday afternoon. It’s then when Frank Martin was set to address his team for the first time since Monday’s shocking loss to Stetson.
The result still has the Gamecocks coach befuddled on the brink of SEC play.
“After the Stetson game,” Martin said Thursday on an SEC teleconference with reporters, “that’s the most disappointed I’ve ever been in a (basketball team) I’ve been the head coach of at the high school or college level.
“We got all week, the next five days, to have conversations and make sure that we figure out a way to get away from that lifeless experience that we had.”
Carolina (8-5) next hosts Florida (8-4) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Martin, in his eighth season with the Gamecocks, has a team coming off a couple stunning performances. They lost at home to Stetson (NET ranking of 323 at the time) eight days after beating Virginia (AP ranking of No. 9 at the time) on the road.
It’s led Martin to at least one conclusion.
“Our biggest problem is dealing with adversity,” he said. “We don’t handle adversity well. We get really quiet and just listless. There’s no other word that can be used whenever we deal with adversity. I thought we had improved with our confidence ... and our experience. But we took a major, major step backward our last game out.”
If it’s any consolation, South Carolina’s uneven finish to the non-conference season has in-league company. Aside from Arkansas and Auburn (combined 23-1), each SEC team has at least three losses, some more head-scratching than others.
▪ Kentucky (9-3) fell to Evansville (NET 214) on Nov. 12
▪ Mississippi State (9-3) fell to New Mexico State (NET 117) on Dec. 22.
▪ Missouri (8-4) fell to Charleston Southern (NET 296) on Dec. 3.
▪ Vanderbilt (8-4) fell to Loyola-Chicago (NET 139) on Dec. 18.
▪ Texas A&M (6-5) fell to Fairfield (NET 217) on Dec. 1.
Over a month before Stetson, USC fell to Boston University (NET 203).
“The biggest problem we have at the high-major level is the majority of us are young,” said Martin, whose Gamecocks boast one junior or senior in his second year of playing in his program (Maik Kotsar). “Young because of, for the Kentuckys of the world, they lose so many guys year in and year out to the NBA draft. And for teams like us, we just have guys transfer. It’s kind of part of the society that we’re all dealing with. It’s not a South Carolina problem, it’s just a societal thing.
“Kids that come to high-major schools think they’re going to walk in and play 30 minutes a game and average 22 points a game from day one. And when they don’t, there’s a sense of disappointment. And some of them get up and leave. So you kind of stay young too much.
“With youth comes inconsistencies. It’s just as simple as that.”
Two Gamecocks — Jason Cudd, Felipe Haase — were lost to transfer last offseason. Six Gamecocks have made their USC debuts this season. Fourth-year junior Jair Bolden and redshirt freshman Jermaine Couisnard, players who sat out last year, both average over 21 minutes a game.
“You’re seeing it across the country,” Martin said. “You got talented teams that can beat anybody. But because of their youth and their immaturities, they can get beat by anybody too.”
NEXT
What: Florida at South Carolina
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 107.5 The Game in Columbia area
This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 1:27 PM.
