With a couple of tweaks, Frank Martin’s Gamecocks find right formula in Asheville
At 1:30 a.m. Saturday, South Carolina men’s basketball coach Frank Martin had an epiphany.
His Gamecocks (2-1) had just lost a close-fought battle against Princeton in the first game of the inaugural Asheville Championship in North Carolina, and Martin knew he needed to make some tweaks.
With Western Kentucky on deck, a team known to play small, Martin decided to experiment with a smaller lineup against the Hilltoppers. Frustrated with the play of his young bigs over the first two games of the season, Martin dialed back the playing time of transfer Josh Gray and freshman Ta’Quan Woodley and gave more minutes to 6-foot-3 freshman guard Devin Carter and his 6-5 son Brandon Martin.
Both players produced in key moments to help lift USC to a 75-64 win over Western Kentucky, and the team as a whole played with a renewed energy following a disappointing weekend-opening loss.
“You learn a lot about the people on your team every day, but you learn a lot more about them when you suffer your first loss,” Martin said. “... I was really, really happy with how we rebounded in practice yesterday, and I don’t mean rebound the ball. I mean we had some guys that were really competitive, really locked and really excited.
“And we’re not there yet as a team. We’re just not, and the Princeton game was a really hard game for us.”
With nine new players on this year’s roster, Martin is still trying to figure out the right combinations and identify the team’s key playmakers. Adding his son and Carter into the equation provided a different wrinkle Sunday.
Brandon Martin played a season-high 18 minutes after playing just five minutes combined in the first two games, and he scored seven points on 3-of-3 shooting while playing lock-down defense. Carter, meanwhile, showcased his physicality by consistently driving to the rim and drawing contact, making all eight of his free throws and finishing tied for the team lead with 16 points.
“Devin just loves physicality,” guard James Reese said. “He’s one of our best downhill players in my opinion. He’s not scared of the moment. He wants to be in that position, and I think that’s why he thrives. It just showed tonight with how fierce he is.”
It helped, too, that the Gamecocks’ guard-heavy lineup found much more success shooting the ball than it did in the previous two games. After making 4 of 19 3-points attempts in Game 1 and 4 of 26 in Game 2, the Gamecocks sunk 9 of 27 3-point looks against the Hilltoppers on Sunday.
Veteran Jermaine Couisnard made three 3-pointers en route to 16 points, and Reese made 4-of-9 attempts and finished with 14.
“It felt really good for the shots to actually go in,” Reese said. “Last game, we had a rough shooting night, but that’s all part of basketball.
“We just stuck with it, kept shooting. Coach Frank drew up some good plays for us to get us moving the ball a little bit more. And we got wide-open shots, and we were able to throw some in tonight.”
There’s no guarantee Martin will stick with the smaller group going forward. For one, transfer forward A.J. Wilson could make his Gamecocks debut as soon as Thursday’s game against UAB after tweaking his back in the weight room just before the season. His veteran presence could make a difference in the frontcourt. The Gamecocks will also receive a boost when forward Keyshawn Bryant returns from his five-game suspension.
In the interim, Martin is simply trying to push the right buttons with his new team, knowing that these early season games will be a continual learning process.
“I’ve got a lot of faith in this team,” Martin said. “It’s a really good group of guys. We’ve got to grow up a little bit, and we will.”
NEXT USC MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME
Who: South Carolina vs. UAB
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia
Watch: Streaming on SEC Network Plus
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 8:00 AM.
