SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

Heading into last season, Frank Martin said the 2018 recruiting class was probably the best one he’s brought in at South Carolina to date and it’s easy to see why.

AJ Lawson took the league by storm last year while Keyshawn Bryant wasn’t far behind with his insane athleticism but one of the biggest pieces of that puzzle didn’t see the court.

That’d be Jermaine Couisnard, who missed last season with an academic issue, but is lighting up the SC ProAm and impressing a few Gamecock legends.

“I’ve been telling people the second best player isn’t even playing. I tell people all the time the other guy that can average 16 with AJ isn’t even on the court,” Sindarius Thornwell said. “The highest recruited guy in the class isn’t even playing; AJ wasn’t the highest-recruited guy in the class. Jermaine was. If you want to rank players in the class, the best player isn’t even on the court yet.”

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In his first two games in front of crowds since high school, Couisnard is averaging 43.5 points, going off for 47 Tuesday night after starting the ProAm by posting a 40-point game Sunday.

In these types of events it could be easy for players to compile those statistics, taking a boatload of shots and making less than half but putting up eye-popping point totals.

That wasn’t the case for Couisnard, who made 18 of his 24 shots, including six of his 11 three-pointers with six rebounds and nine assists.

For PJ Dozier, who’s currently with the Philadelphia 76ers and played with Couisnard Tuesday night and in scrimmages dating back to last season, this is nothing new.

“He’s legit. He’s legit, man. He’s a hooper. He does that every day. South Carolina’s got a good one, and I can’t wait to see him star,” Dozier said. “I’m really excited for this team. I think they’re going to bring a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm to the CLA.”

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He’s made it look effortless so far, hitting three pointers as if he were standing two feet from the rim instead of 22 and running the floor better than some guards who have been playing college ball for two or three more years.

For those who followed Couisnard’s high school career closely, this isn’t surprising to see since he’s always been a scorer.

The 6-foot-4 guard averaged almost 30 points his senior season at East Chicago Central before playing a prep year at Montverde and it’s that scoring prowess he hopes to bring to next year’s team.

Couisnard missed all of last season, sitting out while dealing with an academic issue but Thornwell thinks his scoring could offer this team an immediate boost next year.

“You’re missing potentially 15 or 16 points per game. How many games did they lose by 15-plus? That’s another 15 you can add that you were missing last year,” Thornwell said. “Frank’s going to get the best out of them.”

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Couisnard will enter this season as a redshirt freshman with four years of eligibility left in his career.

He’ll have at least one more game in the ProAm, the last chance for fans to see him before the season starts, but those who spend a lot of time around him already know what he brings to the table.

“He’s a competitor,” Dozier said. “He doesn’t care who’s out there, who has the other jersey on, he’s going to compete.”