Dec 18, 2015; Greenville, SC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Frank Martin reacts during the first half against the Clemson Tigers at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. The Gamecocks won 65-59 Mandatory Credit: Dawson Powers-USA TODAY Sports
Five years ago, the South Carolina Gamecocks looked the part of a team that had talent to play in the Big South Conference and never challenge the SEC. It was a program in Darin Horn’s third year that had very little talent, no team culture, and there was no interest from a fan base that was literally allowing Kentucky to fill their building and celebrate fervently when the Wildcats came to town and generally pick up easy wins.
That mindset was immediately tossed to the curb when Frank Martin took over after six successful years at Kansas State. He had gone to two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight and was three minutes away from a Final Four. Martin knows program-building and creating culture and in his fourth season, the South Carolina Gamecocks stand at 15-1 and nationally ranked after finally losing Wednesday night in Tuscaloosa, 73-50.
A loss like that one is probably as valuable as a close loss when the team played well. It allows Martin to use it as a learning experience and teach from the loss. There are lots of teachable moments from Wednesday night’s game, which is certain to get the attention of the Gamecocks and make them focus on their tasks even more.
Martin took small steps in healing this program with the big picture in mind. He places a team on the floor that shares the basketball as well as anyone. Five players average double figures from 12.4 points per game by Michael Carrera to 10.9 per game by Laimonas Chatkevicius. In addition, it is a typical hard-nosed, rugged Martin program that allows opponents to shoot only 37.8 percent from the floor, while out-rebounding them by 10 per game.
“I have been exposed to good basketball,” he said, “However the ride of where we were at four years ago until right now, it’s pretty special. “
Martin has a senior base of Lithuanian players Chatkevicius and Mindaugas Kacinas, a stocky Venezuelan forward in Michael Carrera, and a junior in SIndarius Thornwell, who is starting to become Martin’s ace in the clutch.
He combines that experience with McDonald’s All-America guard P.J. Dozier and role players in Marcus Stroman, Duane Notice and freshman Chris Silva to form a nine-man mix that has taken college basketball by storm through the first half of the season.
“They have been awesome,” said Martin, “They have got me on a ride right now that’s unreal. They come in every day; they care; they pay attention; they study film. Then, they go out in a game like this and their confidence and courage is never rattled and when you do that against a real good basketball team, that makes you feel good.”
The Gamecocks trailed a reeling Vanderbilt team that has had injury issues most of the afternoon last Saturday before surviving a 69-65 win in their SEC home opener. Like the deep line up suggests, the Commodores never knew where the Gamecocks’ attack was coming from.
They trailed by as many as eight, the most so far this season, but when Dozier pulled up in the lane with 10:50 to go and followed that with a layup for a 53-49 lead, South Carolina would never trail again. Their overtaking of Vanderbilt in the last ten minutes of the game was like that of Memphis a week ago. It was a mentally-tough, physical exercise in who could withstand the most, and like Martin, the Gamecocks were the survivors.
“I would much rather have the lead and play from ahead than behind,” he noted. “For us to have the mentality to stay the course, we have been preaching the game is 40 minutes long. Sometimes we play not so good, here and there, and that’s OK. Let go play the next possession. Our guys are starting to figure that out.”
Defensively, they held Vandy scoreless from the field from the 9:31 mark to the 0:37 mark in the second half as the Commodores were 2-of-20 and center Damion Jones fouled out in that stretch after playing only 16 minutes.
Thornwell is a skilled surgeon with the basketball and now is able to take over the game with so much talent around him and in a strong system. Vandy cut it to 60-58 before Thornwell made back-to-back shots from the left side of the key to give the Gamecocks a 64-59 lead. He finished with 19 points and eight boards in 35 minutes.
“It is something we run for Laimonas,” said Martin. “It went to Sindarius on a tight little pin down. You have to go set the screen, come off the screen and make the shot. He was good. I wish he would have made his free throws coming down the stretch though.”
His minutes have increased to about 35.5 over the last three games as SEC play has started. He averages 30.2 on the season and is more than happy to pick up as the team leader.
“Sins a winner,” Martin explained. “He knows what we do and when you have players who know what centers are supposed to do, and know coverages, you have a guy that is ready to win and that is where he is at right now.”
Dozier is coming into his own as he has been able to pick up the speed of the game and now he has to embrace the physicality even more. He averages 7.8 points per game in 19.9 minutes, but Martin wants to see him use more aggression in his overall attack.
“I have been hard on him,” said Martin of the Columbia native. “You guys don’t see it. Most freshmen would roll their eyes, drop their head, and go the other way. He wants to be good and he wants you to coach him. That’s why he is such an awesome human being. He made some plays there when we went down two to up five. That was all him. I called stuff to put him in action and he did it.”
With two of the next three on the road, it is quite possible that South Carolina could hit speed bumps along the way. But it’s a deep SEC, and with the rise of the Gamecocks, in addition to Texas A&M and possibly a healthy Vanderbilt team, the Kentucky Wildcats will be challenged. However, Martin says the key throughout is to stay the course in playing possession by possession, minute by minute, and game by game.
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