How a walk-on ‘stabilized’ the South Carolina basketball team in a crucial moment
Up to the start of Saturday night’s game, South Carolina forward Nathan Nelson had played all of 34 career minutes.
Just about every one of those minutes, outside of a stretch against Clemson this year, came in a noncompetitive game. Such is life for a walk-on, playing in blowouts and contributing more in practice than in live action.
And yet, Saturday night, Nelson was tasked with helping in a rather crucial role for the Gamecocks against Tennessee: holding the line and keeping things afloat.
A head injury to Jayln McCreary and a massive bout of foul trouble left the Gamecocks down four of their top five front-court players. In stepped Nelson, a 6-foot-6, 189-pound walk-on from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
The worry when any walk-on steps in is that they’ll be overwhelmed. Nelson was not. After the 63-61 win, Gamecocks coach Frank Martin joked that folks might check the box score and not even see it.
“You’re probably not gonna see any statistic that says he contributed,” Martin said. “You know what Nathan Nelson did? He didn’t get ducked in. You know what he did? He gave us toughness at the rim, something that we were lacking outside Maik Kotsar in the game today. He stabilized. He allowed us to guard because we weren’t concerned with getting beat in there.”
Martin was correct: Outside the nine minutes, Nelson recorded only zeroes on the stat sheet. But another number told the tale.
When he stepped onto the court, the Gamecocks trailed a solid Tennessee team by four. Five minutes later, when he departed, it was tied.
He was out for about a minute, as Keyshawn Bryant returned but in foul trouble and promptly coughed up a bad turnover. USC trailed by four when Nelson was back in the game — the Gamecocks were in the same spot four minutes later when he departed.
That set the stage for a late rally in a game South Carolina likely needed to keep NCAA tournament hopes afloat.
At times, he had to check 6-foot-8 Olivier Nkamhoua or 6-foot-6, 215-pound leaper Yves Pons. USC played a good bit of zone defense with him out there, which at points meant jostling with John Fulkerson, UT’s highly efficient top post option.
As a high school player, Nelson was the No. 4 scorer on a team that went 32-1 his senior season.
Martin said perhaps he should play Nelson a bit more going forward, especially if McCreary’s injury lingers.
“I got confidence in Nathan,” Martin said. “That’s all I know. And he’s one of (strength coach) Scott Greenawalt’s all-time favorites and he’s only a sophomore because you see him and you think, ‘Oh, a little wimpy kid.’ Good luck.”
Injury update: Martin said McCreary was improving Monday but was not doing well Sunday. Martin intimated the injury happened when McCreary tumbled into a cameraperson on the baseline.
Next game: The Gamecocks (16-9, 8-4 SEC) visit Mississippi State at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
This story was originally published February 17, 2020 at 8:15 AM.
