Frank Martin updates USC’s injury situation: At least one Gamecock is back
Two scholarship players didn’t make the trip to Texas A&M and another missed the final 37 minutes of South Carolina’s 81-67 win over the Aggies on Saturday.
There’s a chance the Gamecocks (10-7, 2-2 SEC) could be similarly shorthanded when they next travel to No. 16 Auburn (15-2, 3-2) on Wednesday.
Carolina coach Frank Martin said Monday that reserve guard T.J. Moss is “fine” after a death in the family, but there’s uncertainty about the immediate futures for Trae Hannibal and Keyshawn Bryant.
Hannibal, a true freshman guard, didn’t travel to College Station after suffering a sprained left ankle in practice. Though the swelling has gone down, Martin said Hannibal was still in pain Sunday night. “We’re up in the air there,” Martin said of Hannibal’s status for Wednesday.
Bryant, a sophomore swingman, collided with TAMU’s Wendell Mitchell early in Saturday’s game and didn’t return because of a head injury. Nothing severe — i.e. vomiting, losing consciousness — has happened since, Martin said, but Bryant is considered “day to day.”
“He suffers from these intense migraines,” Martin said, referring to the Wofford loss last season in which Bryant wore protective glasses. “So it just kind of flared that up. We’ll see, I don’t have a clear answer from you on him.”
Losing Moss and Hannibal again opened the door for Jair Bolden. A healthy scratch in the Kentucky win, Bolden — with the Gamecocks about out of backup guard options — returned against Texas A&M and delivered 19 points, including five of Carolina’s school record-tying 16 3-pointers.
The junior transfer from George Washington logged 33 minutes off the bench.
“It didn’t take a rocket scientist to understand he was probably going to play against Texas A&M because of personnel,” Martin said. “Give him credit, he was ready to go. And he went out there and he was aggressive.”
Bolden is fourth on USC in scoring (9.7 points per game), just ahead of Bryant (8.3). Without the Florida native available for the majority of Saturday, the Gamecocks turned to Jalyn McCreary for chunks of time.
The freshman scored six points, tying for the second-most of his season, in 13 minutes, his longest appearance in SEC play. McCreary started Saturday’s second half. He has 12 points and five rebounds over Carolina’s last two games.
“I feel like they’re really good,” senior forward Maik Kotsar said of McCreary and fellow rookie big man Wildens Leveque, who had two blocks in the Tennessee loss on Jan. 11. “I saw that during the summer. They’re really athletic, really physical, really skilled. But the thing that was holding them back more was knowing the plays and knowing the system and I feel like they’re making big strides toward learning that. And I feel like as time goes on, the more they’ll be able to contribute.”
Thornwell saw it coming
Jermaine Couisnard is the second South Carolina player to earn SEC Freshman of the Week since Sindarius Thornwell did it in March 2014.
What Couisnard, a redshirt freshman, did the last two games — 43 points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals, one epic buzzer-beater — is what Thornwell saw coming during an 2018 offseason pickup game in Columbia.
“Sin and PJ (Dozier) came in the office and said, ‘Yo, that new guy’s going to be all right,’” Martin recalled Monday. “And I said, ‘Why do you guys say that?’ They said, ‘Because he wasn’t having it from anybody.’
“I don’t take much from who’s playing well and who’s not playing well from open gyms — obviously I’m not allowed to sit there and watch — but when two guys — one’s a ferocious competitor in Sindarius and the other’s one quiet but he’s got a competitive bug in him in PJ — come in and tell you that guy’s going to be all right because of the fact that he’s in a summer pickup guy and he’s not taking crap from anybody, that tells me a lot about what he was about.”
Confidence booster?
Couisnard’s honor, which was announced by the SEC on Monday, was USC’s first since Lawson in November 2018. Lawson’s sophomore season has been a roller coaster of sorts, particularly in league play.
But the Canadian perhaps returned to proper form late at Texas A&M by scoring nine points — all on 3s — in the final 5:10. It got him in double figures scoring for only the second time since Christmas.
“It’s been pretty tough for me,” Lawson said. “I feel like I haven’t been playing my best offensively. Defensively, I’ve been trying to play my heart out. I feel like I’ve been guarding pretty well. It’s just offensively I couldn’t knock down any shots.
“Seeing the ball go in at Texas A&M felt really good for me, for my confidence. I feel really good right now.”
NEXT
What: South Carolina at Auburn
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
TV: ESPNU
Radio: 107.5 The Game in Columbia area
This story was originally published January 20, 2020 at 11:20 AM.
