Frank Martin’s Gamecocks looking for rhythm after extended COVID-19 shutdown
Ever so gradually, life is returning to some semblance of normalcy for the South Carolina men’s basketball team — at least as normal as life can be during a pandemic.
The Gamecocks are practicing again — and actually playing games — something they couldn’t say a month ago. On Saturday at noon, they’ll play just their third home game of the 2020-21 season, taking on Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers (8-7, 2-5 SEC).
“It feels good,” said junior forward Keyshawn Bryant, the team’s leading scorer in back-to-back games. “We haven’t had as much time this season due to COVID to have practices, so we take advantage of every practice we can get.”
From a basketball perspective, the Gamecocks (3-4, 1-2) would appear to be reeling after dropping consecutive road games at LSU and Missouri. But those results don’t tell the whole story.
Before those games, the Gamecocks had only practiced six times in seven weeks and had paused activities three separate times due to positive COVID-19 tests within the program. When they resumed action last week, days before the LSU game, they found out both head coach Frank Martin and top assistant Chuck Martin wouldn’t be with the team due to positive COVID-19 tests.
The Gamecocks had just two full-intensity practices before playing LSU on Jan. 16, and they still led the game for 33 minutes before running out of steam late. The players landed back in Columbia hours after that game, at 2 a.m., then tested the next morning for COVID-19, had a light practice and spent the night catching up on academic work. The next day, Frank Martin rejoined the team, the Gamecocks practiced one more time, and they flew to Missouri.
“When you get back at two o’clock in the morning, and you’ve only practiced for two days, and you just suffered a hard loss, your team is beat up. It’s not mentally and physically conditioned for that moment,” Martin said Friday. “... And here I show up after not being around for 12 days, and now we got to get on a plane and play the (19th) ranked team in the country.
“After a two hour and change flight, and actually one practice, we couldn’t win that game either. And we tried it. We weren’t very good. We were really sluggish, especially to start the game, and just couldn’t get to the right places. As the game unfolded, we played better, but not well enough to win.”
Martin has said repeatedly that he doesn’t want to make excuses for this team and that he and his players know what they “signed up for.” But given the unusual circumstances surrounding this season, it’s easy to see how a lack of consistent practice and basketball conditioning could lead to sloppy, sluggish play on the court. USC has played as many games (seven) as it has had canceled or postponed. By this time last year, USC had played 19 games.
It also doesn’t help matters that the Gamecocks still don’t have their full team available.
Bryant was the latest player to return after being sidelined since Dec. 5, and he responded by putting up a career-high 26 points against LSU and followed it up with 19 against Mizzou. His return has provided some juice to a USC frontcourt that sorely needs it.
Big men Alanzo Frink and Jalyn McCreary remain out, presumably due to COVID-19, though Martin does not discuss which specific players test positive due to privacy. Frink, who started at center for the Gamecocks when they opened the season, hasn’t played since Dec. 5 at Houston, the game that preceded USC’s first COVID-19 shutdown.
McCreary played Jan. 6 at Texas A&M but has missed the team’s other three games this month. In their absence, 6-foot-10 sophomore Wildens Leveque has had to take on a bigger role, and while he’s shown some positive flashes on the court, there’s still some rawness to his game.
“He’s kind of been the lone survivor, for lack of better words, and I hate using those terms,” Martin said. “So he’s got to be real good. The other guys aren’t ready to do it right now. And he’s riding solo.”
As for Martin’s COVID-19 symptoms, he said he’s gradually feeling better, as is wife Anya and their children, who all tested positive for the virus. Martin added that Chuck Martin ended his isolation Friday and should be able to return to the sideline Saturday. He said Chuck Martin “got beat up pretty good, too” by COVID-19.
“I’m still not all there,” said Martin, who also tested positive for COVID-19 in May. “If I didn’t have a responsibility to my players and coaches, I would not be doing this right now. My energy level is not what it needs to be, you just feel different. I mean, there’s no other way to word it. I’m still congested, short of breath at times. But I’m not trying to make anyone feel sorry for me. I’m healthy and my job is to do my job.
“The players are great. We’re still not at full tilt. At least we’ve had the same group of guys together for three practices and two games, so maybe we can do that for another practice today and another game on Saturday.”
Martin said that one of the team’s key players missed practice Wednesday due to cold-like symptoms but said that player tested negative for COVID-19 and should be able to suit up on Saturday. He said otherwise spirits have been high during practice this week among his players.
The Gamecocks will be facing an Auburn team that has so far struggled on the road and in SEC play, going 1-4 away from home and 2-5 against conference foes. Still, the Gamecocks will need to tighten up the defensive lapses that sunk them late against LSU and buried them early against Mizzou.
Martin, admittedly not a “gracious loser,” said he couldn’t sleep after the loss at Mizzou on Tuesday after how poorly his team played defensively. But when he started his preparation for Auburn, he said it clicked for him how grateful he was just to be preparing for a basketball game and not fearing for the worst with COVID-19.
“It’s complicated, and I’m not asking for anyone to feel sorry for me, but have a little empathy for our players,” Martin said. “Because I get the fact that we haven’t won our last two games, but those kids are laying it on the line, and they’re trying to manage this in a way where we’re going to get judged for wins and losses. And it’s all right, we signed up for it. We got to deal with it.
“But as Gamecocks, let’s everyone have a little empathy for those those kids that are trying to figure it out under different and difficult circumstances.”
Next USC basketball game
Who: South Carolina (3-4, 1-2 SEC) vs. Auburn (8-7, 2-5)
Where: Colonial Life Arena
When: Noon Saturday
Watch: ESPN2
This story was originally published January 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
