Time was winding down in Maik Kotsar’s career at South Carolina, both literally and figuratively.

Time ticked under seven minutes to play as the Gamecocks led by just seven in what will be Kotsar’s final home game against Mississippi State.

You would think somehow the Bulldogs would notice his 6-foot-10, 270-pound body and brown hair sticking out among the noise, but no one did.

Kotsar saw his opportunity, as did Jermaine Couisnard, who lobbed the ball up only for it to get slammed into the hoop for an alley-oop by Kotsar.

“I knew what Jermaine was thinking,” he said, smiling. “It was my first oop in a game, but in practice we’ve had a few.”

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A year ago, he probably wouldn’t even consider dunking, let alone attempting an alley oop, but here he was on his Senior Night accomplishing things he hadn’t in his illustrious four-year career.

And to accomplish something he hadn’t before says a lot, because Kotsar’s career resembles less of a winding country road and more like a mountain range.

Kotsar started as a wide-eyed freshman, hitting arguably the biggest shot in program history to send the Gamecocks to a Final Four in 2017 before hitting some struggles as a sophomore and junior before what has been one of the best senior years of any big man under Frank Martin.

This year, after averaging just 6.7 points and 4.7 rebounds last season, Kotsar is up to 11.3 points and 6.3 rebounds on over 50 percent shooting.

It’s more than just offense for him, currently ranking top 10 in the SEC in steals per game, defensive rating and defensive win shares.

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“This kid’s special. This kid is special because of his ball handling skills, his passing skills and his footwork. (With) His lateral quickness; he can play in the NBA. He’s going to be hard-pressed to turn down money in Russia and everywhere else that wants him. He’s a special talent,” Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland said. “He’s an all-league player, first team, in the SEC.”

But Kotsar’s journey to this year at South Carolina didn’t start this year or last or even two years ago. It was five years ago when assistant Perry Clark hopped on a plane to Wichita, Kansas to put the first set of Gamecock eyes on Kotsar.

At the time, the Gamecocks were in the middle of a 25-win season and Clark saw something in Kotsar South Carolina didn’t have currently: a better version of Mindaugas Kacinas, who finished his senior season averaging 9.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

“I told Frank, Maik right then, I thought, was better than Mindaugas,” Clark said. “I think certainly, under frank’s direction, he’d have a better career than Mindaugas. That was the evaluation I brought back to Frank. I thought his skill set, his size and all that made it so he’d be a better player than Mindaugas.”

From there Kotsar took a visit to watch a game, one South Carolina ultimately lost and Kotsar got the first glimpse of likely many fiery Martin moments.

“When I visited it was the senior game against Georgia. It was that 25-win season when we didn’t get to the tournament,” Kotsar said. “So that loss probably cost us the tournament. I’m saying Frank was pissed. Whenever the team got to the locker room and he was talking, that was like the first glimpse. But yeah, that was the one story that’s memorable for me.”

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He’d commit soon after and since his arrival, the Gamecocks have won 77 games, finished top four in the SEC at least twice (there’s a chance to do it again this year) and been on the biggest stage the program’s ever seen in the Final Four.

It hasn’t all been sunshine and roses, but what Kotsar’s been able to do as a senior is nothing short of impressive.

“It’s been tremendous. I mean tremendous,” Clark said. “I think a lot of that is credited to coach (Martin). I think coach means a lot to Maik. I think wanting to please him and live up to what Frank believes he can be.”

Kotsar’s home career may be over, but his career at South Carolina isn’t. The Gamecocks are still in the fight to make the NCAA Tournament and Clark said this year’s team success is “in large part because of his leadership.”

Make the tournament or not this year, Kotsar’s playing days at South Carolina are numbered and his coaches know how much of a void he leaves.

“I’m going to miss him tremendously,” Clark said. “He’s a beautiful human being. He’s very caring, very smart and he is what you hope college athletes are. It’s been a really great experience.”