SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

The Gamecocks will officially be without one of their best offensive options Tuesday night when they open SEC play.

South Carolina officially ruled Jermaine Couisnard out for tonight's game against Florida with the redshirt freshman dealing with a bad back.

Frank Martin said during his weekly Monday press conference Couisnard strained his back in the days after the Stetson loss and hadn't practiced for about a week leading up to Monday's practice.

Martin said Couisnard would try and practice Monday and Tuesday pregame and that would determine if he was able to play against the Gators.

The Gamecocks practiced Monday afternoon and again Tuesday as part of shoot around.

Couisnard has served as the team's sixth man throughout the entire season, and that means his production won't be there to start SEC play.

He's averaging 8.5 points on 37.7 percent shooting and 3.1 rebounds per game. He's also leading the team in assists per game (2.6) and assist rate (23.3).

Couisnard is fifth among all Gamecocks in minutes per game (21.8), which is the highest among non-starters. The only players averaging more minutes are Maik Kotsar, Justin Minaya, AJ Lawson and Jair Bolden.

South Carolina begins SEC play Tuesday night at home, hosting Florida (9-4, 1-0 SEC). Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPNU.