If there was any question how much Devin Carter means to South Carolina, even as a freshman, it was answered Wednesday.

After Carter missed the annual rivalry game against Clemson in COVID protocols, he responded to the loss in a big way with a career high 22 points in a blowout win over Army.

It was the latest in a long line of eye-popping performances from another standout freshman for South Carolina.

“I feel like having me on the court is a great addition to our team to help the team win,” Carter said.

Carter is in the midst of a torrid start to his freshman year, averaging 9.7 points on 42.9 percent shooting as a freshman and is one of the few guys Martin turns to late in games to close things out.

Nationally Carter is one of the best in terms of drawing fouls, 11th in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (7.1) and he’s shooting 72.7 percent from the line for a nine-win Gamecock team.

But while fans might be getting the first look at it, it’s nothing new for Frank Martin, who get to see all of this from the first minute he began recruiting Carter.

“I start watching and I’m like, ‘Woah, this guy is going for your throat every play,’” “The more I watched I kept saying we have to have this guy, are you kidding me? That’s who he is.”

Carter ended up the No. 91 player in the 2021 class after a standout prep year at Brewster Academy, but that talent had to translate to the court once he got to college.

There were some growing pains early, but Carter seems adjusted and starting to play well in Martin’s system.

“He gets here and I’m asking him to learn our structure. He has a certain demeanor about him I would react to because he wasn’t doing our structure the right way but at the end of the day he was making every play,” Martin said.

“I was saying, ‘I got to be careful here because this guy is really good and I don’t need to run him out of here.’ Now he’s buying into our structure defensively and offensively. Now you’re seeing his competitiveness and talent show. He’s really good.”

The Gamecocks have had two all-freshman players recently in AJ Lawson and Jermaine Couisnard and now Carter could be next in line if he continues to play the way he has been.

----

• Not a subscriber? Learn more about Gamecock Central here!

• Watch our live show and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

• Sign up for Gamecock Central's FREE news alerts and daily newsletter.

• Subscribe to our podcast on whatever podcast platform you prefer!

• Follow us on Twitter: @GamecockCentral, @GCChrisClark, @WesMitchellGC, @CollynTaylor and @Mike_Uva.

• Follow Gamecock Central on Instagram @GamecockCentral.