Keyshawn Bryant suspended multiple games to start South Carolina basketball season
South Carolina senior forward Keyshawn Bryant will be suspended for the first five games of the season, men’s basketball coach Frank Martin said Monday.
Martin said Bryant is suspended due to violations of the school’s athletic department policy but didn’t go into any further detail. Martin threw his support behind Bryant, saying “he’s my guy” and looks forward to his return. Bryant has continued to practice with the team.
Bryant is coming off a career-best season for the Gamecocks, and he’s the team’s top returning scorer and rebounder, averaging 14.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last season. Martin had said late in the year that Bryant had been developing into a more vocal leader.
Bryant didn’t play in USC’s exhibition as he recovers from an offseason knee injury. Martin said he was aware of Bryant’s violation before this week but didn’t elaborate on the timeline.
“I’m not going to expand too much on that,” Martin said. “I have too much respect on Key. This is not something I found out yesterday. He has battled a knee injury in the preseason ... His knee’s in a good place right now, but this is a decision that just had to be made.”
The Gamecocks open the regular season Tuesday night against USC Upstate at home. And though the Gamecocks will be without one of their key veterans, Martin said he’s confident in the team’s depth behind Bryant. Due to Bryant’s knee injury, the Gamecocks practiced for about two weeks without him, giving Martin a glimpse of what the lineup could look like the first five games of the season.
“We’ll be fine,” Martin said. “We just probably won’t see as many highlight dunks.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 11:15 AM.
