Frank Martin can tweak all he wants to the style of play and man to man concepts, zone schemes or anything in between, but it won’t matter until one key piece of the Gamecock defense gets better.

Right now the Gamecocks are struggling defensively at a rate that’s uncommon for a Martin-coached team, and no schematic tweaks are going to improve, Martin said, until the on-ball defense gets better.

"The one thing we need to get a lot better at whether we play zone or less aggressive defense or whatever it may be is our on-ball defense is really bad. Our ball screen is really bad. That means we start fouling a lot because we play on our heels at the time,” Frank Martin said.

“Any time you’re on your heels you’re in trouble. Right now defensively we’re on our heels every single play because we’re not very good on the ball.”

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Over the last three games South Carolina is allowing 91.7 points, including giving up a Martin-era high of 109 in a loss Saturday to Auburn.

They’ve allowed an average of 1.1 points per possession in back-to-back games for the first time in two years

It’s in large part because of the struggles they’ve had guarding the ball, which has resulted in two things: teams getting easy looks at the rim or getting to the free throw line.

Over the last three games the Gamecocks are allowing opponents to shoot almost 58 percent from two-point range with a free throw rate (FTA/FGA) of 47.5.

"I’m trying to make some adjustments as a coach to protect our player a bit and the player shave to throw some self accountability out there as we take on some of these adjustments to try and figure out a way to put ourselves in a better place defensively,” “We all have to adjust and grow and take on the moment to do a little better than what we’ve been doing.”

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What will help is getting better play from a thin Gamecocks’ front court that’s down a few bodies.

South Carolina’s been without Alanzo Frink, who will miss the rest of the season due to medical issues, and Jalyn McCreary, who’s missed four of the team’s last five games.

There’s only one experienced player on the roster currently listed at 6-foot-10 or taller—Wildens Leveque—with Justin Minaya, Trey Anderson and Keyshawn Bryant filling the majority of power forward minutes, all listed at 6-foot-6.

The good news is McCreary is expected back for the UGA game Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN2) but the Gamecocks will still need valuable minutes defensively from their bigs spots.

“We just need to be better, plain and simple. We need to be better on defense,” Minaya said. “The last two or three games have not been good defensively...We need to be better protecting the rim. A lot of teams are getting easy layups and those are high-percentage shots.”

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In terms of defensive adjustments, Martin said “everything is on the table,” and that includes playing more zone to accentuate South Carolina’s length at most spots on the floor.

Regardless of how the Gamecocks opt to defend the Bulldogs (9-5, 2-5 SEC), it won’t matter unless the on-ball defense improves.

“Whether you’re a zone team or a hard man team or a contain man team, the guy on the ball has to have courage to fight the ball. That means you do everything in your power to not let that ball get by you. Right now we’re not good at that. That’s why everything behind it is not very good. We have to get better on the ball,” Martin said.

“I’ve done not a very good job. I’m at the head. The next player, whoever that player is, hasn’t been as good as they need to be. We all have to do our jobs better. I have to coach better, I have to make adjustments.”