Gamecocks men’s basketball 8-0 and on a roll

South Carolina is one of eight undefeated teams in the country and having a lot of fun. More than the increasing adulation from students, fans and the national spotlight, they like being around each other.

Which is fortunate. They’ll be seeing a lot of their teammates for the next month.

“You can basically just focus on basketball – just basketball,” senior Mindaugas Kacinas said. “Just like our coach said today, you basically become a professional. Because everything is about basketball. There’s no distractions like class, exams, quizzes … really excited about that.”

The Gamecocks (8-0) will have a campus mostly to themselves until Jan. 11, when classes resume. They’ll play seven games during the span – starting Tuesday against Drexel (1-6) – including their first two SEC games.

The student section won’t be as full as usual, but the advantage is the Gamecocks don’t have anything to take their attention away from keeping the undefeated streak going. Thanks to the NCAA’s 20-hour rule being lifted during stretches of no school (during classes, there can only be 20 hours of practice or team time per week, excluding games), the Gamecocks can be in the gym for 14 hours per day, if they choose to.

Most of them will be. They know one more win would equal the program’s best start since 1970-71.

“We all know what we sign up for,” coach Frank Martin said. “Anyone who wants to be on vacation in December shouldn’t play basketball. In my career, our teams have always gotten a lot better this time of year because we spend a lot of individual time with players.”

During the semester, USC focuses on improving on the practice floor, running scout diagrams for the next game and working on what it didn’t do well in the last game. Now, the Gamecocks can watch more film and not feel pressed for time.

They’ll get a break for Christmas. Martin’s gift to them is a four-day gap between a Dec. 22 game against St. John’s and Dec. 30 against Francis Marion. But after that, it’s back in the gym – Memphis waits on Jan. 2 and then comes the start of the 18-game SEC schedule.

The freshmen, who often become overwhelmed during the first semester, have responded to the break with their best practices since they arrived. The old heads have taken their intensity to another level.

USC has played eight games and won them all. It means nothing without winning No. 9.

“They’ve been good all week, but then we ratcheted up practice yesterday and today,” Martin said. “And they were engaged as they’ve been all year. It’s fun to see, and the next four, five weeks or so will basically determine who we become as a basketball team.”

This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 6:29 PM.