Gamecocks having a 'block party' to start practice

Athletes are prideful and never want to admit anytime another player gets the best of them on the court. So when asked if he’s had a shot sent back at him in practice so far, all he could do was hang his head.

“I have,” Lawson said, cracking a smile.

It’s been a prevalent thing for the Gamecocks through three practices with Maik Kotsar saying he’s “lost count” of how many blocks he’s seen since practice started Monday.

“I’ve been swatted,” he said. “I feel like at this point everyone on our team’s gotten blocked at least once throughout the three days we’ve been practicing. It’s a block party.”

Also see: Bryson Allen-Williams' latest film breakdown

This wouldn’t normally be a story in years past since Chris Silva, a one-man wrecking crew with an 8.2 block percentage last season, but Silva is on to other endeavors with the Miami Heat.

The Gamecocks are doing this without Silva and a collection of younger players.

“I remember being a freshman going up against Chris Silva and getting blocked,” Justin Minaya said. “It was so hard to get to the rim. The same type of stuff is happening to our guards now with Wildens (Leveque), we’re all blocking shots. It wasn’t too big of an adjustment.”

The Gamecocks brought in three front court players, all of which are long and athletic and protect the rim.

There’s Micaiah Henry, a grad transfer from Tennessee Tech who’s impressed his head coach through the first few days, and two freshmen in Wildens Leveque and Jalyn McCreary who have made a habit of living above the rim.

“They’re ridiculous. Jalyn and Wildens, they play with a physicality. Our guys drive to the basket, Wildens is coming to get it. Wildens doesn’t stand there and watch,” Frank Martin said. “He’s coming to get that ball. And when rebounds come off the rim, I’m used to seeing Chris Silva’s hands over the rim and, ‘All right, he didn’t get it, let’s hope it lands in our hands.’ There’s multiple hands up there going after the ball right now.”

Also see: The next steps for Ryan Hilinski

McCreary was a Rivals150 player coming out of Legacy Charter in Greenville and Leveque is a lanky big who put on a show in this summer’s SC ProAm with some highlight-reel dunks.

Kotsar’s seen enough of them to compare the duo to a guy like Silva early in his career.

“They’re extremely athletic. It’s pretty much like Chris,” he said. “They attack the rim like no one I've seen before. They match Keyshawn and Chris. They’re, like Frank said, ridiculous.”

There are a lot of options in the frontcourt this year compared to last year where the Gamecocks cycled through the same three or four players the back half of the year.

Along with Kotsar and Henry, they have their two freshmen in Leveque and McCreary with Alanzo Frink returning for his sophomore season after battling injuries all of last year.

He’s fully healthy now and is joining in on the team’s block party they’ve been having since Monday.

“There’s a competitive fight at the rim this year that we haven’t had since I’ve been here. Whether it’s Kotsar, whether it’s Jalyn, whether it’s Wildens, Alanzo, (Micaiah),” Martin said. “It’s unbelievable. There’s a physicality at the rim we haven’t had since I’ve been here. Chris had it, but no one else had it. (Michael) Carrera had it, Mindaugas (Kacinas) had it but he weighed 205 pounds. Now we have guys who are 240 pounds playing with a physicality. That’s fun.”