SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

With the Gamecocks approaching the halfway point of conference play, time is quickly running out for Justin Minaya.

Minaya, who's been out since November with a serious knee injury, hasn't been cleared for practice and as the season continues the probability of a medical redshirt continues to increase as well.

"I'm going to speak as a dad here if my son were asking me for advice. I'd say it's your decision because at the end of the day you're the one that has to live with it," Martin said. "But at the end of the day do you want to play nine games or 10 games and burn a year or you want to scratch this one off and start from scratch next year? That was what I would tell my son if I ever had a situation like that going on."

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Minaya seriously injured his knee before the Gamecocks' Nov. 26 game against Wofford and has not played since, missing the last 15 games.

The sophomore wing had knee surgery the week after his injury and has been working on rehabbing since then.

He's made some strides, now able to run and do some shooting in practice and before games but still hasn't been fully cleared to return full-bore to practice.

Minaya needs to have 85 percent strength in his injured leg compared to his healthy one, and that number hasn't been hit yet.

"He did not make the progress from a strength standpoint that we thought he was going to make," Martin said. "He's doing some running and moving around, but that leg is not as strong as it needs to be to be cleared for practice."

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When Minaya is fully cleared, he'll go through three or four practices completely to see if he'll be able return to games. If he's cleared to do that, then Minaya and his father, Omar, have to decide if he'll ultimately return or opt to sit the year out and take a redshirt.

Martin said those three have talked about every possibility but the decision won't be made until he's fully healthy.

"Omar, Justin and I, what we've all agreed on is let's get him healthy first. once he's in a place where he's cleared, then we can have that next conversation."

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In his freshman year Minaya became a key player on the team, developing into the Gamecocks' best defender. He only missed one game last season with 30 starts, averaging 7.9 points and averaging 26.9 minutes.

This year before the injury he was averaging 7.4 points and 25.6 minutes.

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