Frank Martin never told his team it leading into the game or in the handful of practices the Gamecocks had before tipping off against Florida A&M.
Not wanting to create an excuse, he never told his team how hard the game might be coming back from a month off with limited practice and down five players—including two starters and two more rotational players—against the Rattlers.
But, despite all the struggles leading up to the long-awaited home opener, the Gamecocks still found a way to win, using a strong final five minutes from veteran players for a 78-71 victory.
“We have to take it one day at a time and just like today find courage to go make plays. No excuses,” Martin said. “I’m proud of the guys. They had a courage to stick together.”
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It might not go down as a storybook win but Martin told the team at halftime just find a way to win and worry about fixing mistakes later.
But with five minutes to go in the game South Carolina found itself in a precarious position.
After leading by as many as seven early in the second half, the Gamecocks saw their lead slip away and fought back to being tied at 69 with just under five minutes to play.
Then, after a layup from Jermaine Couisnard, arguably the biggest play of the day for South Carolina happened.
Seventh Woods turned the ball over but, in transition, AJ Lawson was able to block a shot leading to a Woods outlet pass to Jermaine Couisnard, who drilled a quick three.
South Carolina went from being up just two and potentially tied to up five and never looked back.
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“I was just trying to make sure they didn’t get a basket. Seventh took away the layup. He passed it and I saw him going up,” said Lawson, who led all scorers with 25. I tried to use my length to try and block it and that’s what happened. It’s a hustle play. That’s what our team is all about.”
Lawson's 25 points led the team and were three shy of his career high and the most he's scored in over 30 games. He's averaging 14.8 points so far this year on 46.7 percent shooting and 33.3 from three.
The Gamecocks pulled away, ending the game on a 12-2 run the final 5:42 seconds led, in large part, by veteran players who understand what it takes to close out games.
“The biggest mistake young players make is they quit on plays. Someone makes a mistake and they drop their head. Well they drop their head and you get beat. Seventh made a mistake but we didn’t give in. think about the three guys you mentioned. Seventh didn’t give in and he’s a fifth-year senior,” Martin said.
“AJ is a three year starter and runs back and gets the block. We run back. now here comes Jermaine, who was running back on defense and has to put his foot in the ground and run back the other way to stick a three. The guy who passed him the ball? Seventh. That’s the advantage you get with older players.”
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The Gamecocks (2-2) didn’t play the prettiest basketball against the Rattlers, but the result doesn’t matter as much as finally getting back on the court does.
After a month off, down a third of the roster and needing to get in the win column before SEC play starts, the Gamecocks were able to get on the court and get back to playing basketball.
“Being without our guys, that was all the motivation we needed. We have guys who can’t play right now and it’s going out there and going hard for them,” Woods said. “We knew how the game was going to go. We knew for a long time we’d be limited. There are no excuses to make today. We had to go out there and play together.”
