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Gamecocks sparked by unlikely pregame ritual

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

South Carolina needed something to get them out of a funk they had been in over the last few days. The Gamecocks were coming off a loss to Stony Brook and had a few days to get things together before another game against Norfolk State.

That’s when Chuck Martin came up with an idea.

The Gamecocks’ assistant coach decided to show a video—one of a New Zealand rugby team—to get them emotionally ready to play, and it worked as the Gamecocks responded with a 81-64 win.

Photo by Katie Dugan
Photo by Katie Dugan
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“He showed us a video. That helped a little bit with morale as far as us getting prepared emotionally as a group,” Hassani Gravett said. “It was pretty cool.”

Also see: What South Carolina coaches and players said postgame

The video features the rugby team, the All Blacks, doing a pregame dance (the Haka) in unison.

It’s an intense video with each player sporting a different version of the same, intimidating face as they dance and chant in unison before a game.

Now the Gamecocks (1-1) didn’t come out doing the dance before Tuesday’s win over the Saprtans, but did play with more energy and togetherness than they did in the loss.

Martin joked that if anyone looks at him on the sidelines they’d say he was the leader of the dance, but did say the intended message of the video got across to his players.

Also see: Players preview this weekend's matchup with UT-Chattanooga

“You see their faces; how they excited you are to let you know this is who we are before the game starts,” Martin said. “Then, when the game starts, they play the same way. That was the purpose of the whole video to show you have to have passion, you have to have enthusiasm and you have to be united. You can’t get united when the game starts, you have to be united every time you put that uniform on and every time you step on the court.”

The message seemed to really get across to a trio of veteran leaders in Maik Kotsar, Chris Silva and Hassani Gravett.

The group played well after struggling through the first two games and Martin said he needs to do a better job making sure he gets productive outings from three of the most experienced guys on the team.

“It’s a new team. It’s got a lot of first year guys,” he said. “I have to do a better job with the three most experienced players with Chris, Maik and Hassani. I’ve probably done a real bad job with those three guys.

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The three were really efficient, combining to shoot 14-for-19 and 5-for-6 from three. Gravett led all scorers with 18 points. He also had four assists and four rebounds and set a career-high with five three-pointers made.

Kotsar had his best game of the young season, going perfect from the field on four shots. After not registering a rebound Friday, he had four against Norfolk State. Silva, who was tabbed preseason All-SEC, had eight points on 4-of-6 shooting and four rebounds as well.

“Maik was really engaged today,” Martin said. “He took a charge today; I can’t remember the last time he took a charge. That’s how engaged he was. Chris was engaged, and now we have to get Chris going offensively.”

Related Game Coverage

- Gamecocks roll past Spartans

- What South Carolina said: Norfolk State win

- Box score and game stats


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