Frank Martin always talks about a black injury cloud hanging over South Carolina, and it didn’t wait long this season to throw a curveball in the Gamecocks’ direction.
The day before the season opener, AJ Wilson went down with a back muscle injury and has subsequently missed the last three games coming off of it and dealing with a death in the family.
But Wilson is expected back as the Gamecocks prepare for their Thursday’s game against UAB, hopefully giving South Carolina a solution to one of the biggest glaring issues in the early season.
“The team we prepared to be this year was with AJ earning that responsibility. Then all of the sudden we got a wrench thrown into the equation the day before the Upstate game,” Martin said. “I think AJ will give us the opportunity to play more toward the vision of what I think our team can be from the four spot.”
The power forward position has been a sore spot for Martin this season, not coming out publicly and saying it until after an 11-point win over Western Kentucky.
With third-year player Wildens Leveque at center, the Gamecocks are rotating a host of young players trying to handle the position with varying degrees of success.
It was a struggle in the loss to Princeton—Martin called the four-spot play “unacceptable”—and the Gamecocks are hoping to get some stability there with Wilson’s return.
“Right now from the four spot we’re not getting paint scoring, we’re not getting blocked shots, we’re not getting enough rebounds. If we’re going to grow with defensive mistakes, we have to get some of the other plays I’m talking about. Unfortunately we haven’t gotten them,” he said. “That’s the one thing we have to continue to identify and get a lot better at moving forward.”
Sophomore Josh Gray, who played less than 50 total minutes last season, and freshman Ta’Quan Woodley have shouldered the load there with ups and downs but Brandon Martin, Martin’s son, gave some stability there on both ends of the court against Western.
He’d finish with an offensive rating of 164 in 18 minutes, going 3-for-3 from the field with a three-pointer, three rebounds, two assists and two steals as well.
“They tried to iso back to back possessions Hamilton at the top of the key and he sat there and guarded him and wouldn’t allow him to get beat off the dribble. The next possession down coach said to post him. They ran him off a UCLA screen. He defended it exactly how we teach, didn’t accept playing behind,” Martin said. “He gave us that sense of toughness defensively. That was, as a dad, those two plays are the ones I look at and say, ‘Wow, look at him. Proud of him.’”
One thing the Gamecocks can do, and did against WKU, is play a little bit smaller with a four-guard lineup.
While it might not be for long stretches, the Gamecocks closed the game with four backcourt players—Erik Stevenson, Devin Carter, James Reese and Jermaine Couisnard—and outscored the Hilltoppers the final three minutes of the game.
It gave the Gamecocks a little bit more athleticism and gave them a few different ways to attack smaller defensive lineups.
“It’s just four guards. When you play those four guys together you’re going to switch handoffs, ball screens,” Martin said. “Then offensively we tried to do some different things because of the lineup rather than the stuff we usually do.”
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