Keyshawn Bryant to play for South Carolina Gamecocks Wednesday night

The long wait to get Keyshawn Bryant back into the lineup is likely officially over. Bryant is available and should play Wednesday night against UMass in his season debut.

The decision was made after the Gamecocks' shoot-around Wednesday where Bryant moved around and didn't have any real swelling in his knee, which is four weeks removed from surgery.

“There’s been no pain," Frank Martin told reporters Tuesday night. "No swelling.”

Bryant practiced Monday and Tuesday leading up to the game and worked out with the team in a limited workout once the team arrived to Amherst Tuesday night before being a full participant in Wednesday's shoot-around.

There's no doubt Bryant will be a huge boost to a Gamecock team needing a big boost as it gets into the teeth of its schedule, and Martin said if Bryant is healthy enough for it he'll be able to play for as long as he can.

He said earlier in the year Bryant was playing at a very high level before the injury and has picked back up well once he was able to return.

"You’re either healthy or your not. If you play 12 minutes, how’s that going to protect you from playing 20? It’s kind of on him," Martin said. "He hasn’t had a lot of practice reps offensively. We’re doing a couple things differently. He’s a really intelligent guy, so he picks things up pretty quickly. He’s sharp in practice. If he’s cleared, I’m going to throw him out there. For how long? Sleep, endurance, success all those things will tell a lot about his time.”

The entire time Bryant was hurt, Martin didn't discuss the play for working him back into the lineup and whose minutes he would take as he got healthy, but bringing Bryant back does if the Gamecocks (5-3) a few options.

They can play him at the three and move Justin Minaya to the four, allowing him to have a few more rebounding opportunities and giving a four-man bigs rotation a little bit of a breather.

Playing Bryant—who averaged nine points and 3.8 rebounds last year—and Minaya together means there'd be only one true big on the court, which means they could keep guys fresh over the course of the game, especially Maik Kotsar, who's shouldering a lot of the load right now.

“I’m not down on my other big guys. They’re just not as experienced,” Martin said. “Alanzo, he’s a really good player, but he lives life in this comfort zone he has to get out of. Playing is not like charity. You have to earn your right to play. He’s earned the right to be on the team, he’s earned the right to get thrown out there. But when he gets out there he has to earn the right to earn the right to stay on the court. That’s his journey. Wildens continues to earn my trust.”

Injecting Bryant back in also gives the Gamecocks a type of athleticism they didn't have the first eight games this year and will help bolster a South Carolina defense right now 89 in defensive efficiency allowing 95.3 points per 100 possessions.

“When we’ve gone small in the first eight games, we lose a lot of defending and we lose a lot of size to defend dribble drives. Now Jermaine is guarding a 6-foot-6 guy trying to guard the ball," Martin said. "AJ Lawson isn’t built to take on a 210-pound guy who’s trying to drive the ball. It puts a lot of stress on the defense. Keyshawn being at small forward, now he can defend that guy. And, the last component, Keyshawn brings an athletic ability to make certain plays other guys on our teams can’t make. There’s steals he comes up with, blocked shots. There are plays at the rim no one else on our team comes up with."