SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL
Watching Frank Martin as the clock wound down, he wasn’t his normal self as the Gamecocks tried to come back against Boston University.
The normally animated head coach who’s known for his fiery presence on the bench was calm and pensive, sitting and coaching instead of his trademarked pacing up and down the sidelines.
For Martin, it was by design.
“You guys sit there and watch me the whole game. I think if you guys were being honest in what you report, you’d sit there and say, ‘Frank was kind of calm tonight.’ I’m trying to figure my team out. We were facing adversity and I was trying to see who was going to take ownership of our team. Unfortunately, no one did.”
Also see: Instant analysis from Tuesday's loss
The Gamecocks dropped their first game of the season 78-70 with a lackluster performance against Boston where they couldn’t contain the Gamecocks shot 40 percent and couldn’t get big stops when they needed to.
They’d tie the game multiple times over the course of the second half but never could get over that hump to take and maintain a lead.
As the game went on, Martin saw a team with bad body language and didn’t see anyone step up in timeouts to take ownership of the team.
“It’s the first time we deal with real adversity and we became a quiet, in our feelings in our team,” Martin said. “When I talk about immaturity, that’s what I’m talking about. The harder the game got, the louder their players got and the quieter our players got. That’s what happens. We have to grow up. There’s no other way to word it. We battled, we tried, but every time we’d tie it there was an effort play we’d get beat on.”
Also see: Everything Frank Martin said postgame
The Gamecocks have experienced guys on the court but the majority of the team’s key players—AJ Lawson, Jair Bolden, TJ moss, Alanzo Frink and Jermaine Couisnard—are in either their first or second years of the program.
Martin reiterated a loss like this is “unacceptable” but understands he still has a young core of guys still growing into their roles.
“If anyone in this room thought we were going to go 31-0, I appreciate your enthusiasm for our team but that’s not reality,” Martin said. “We’ve got a good group of guys. It’s all about learning. You either learn to win or learn to lose. That’s what your season does to your team. It’s one or the other. We got challenged today by a real good basketball team and didn’t handle it very well. It’s disappointing, especially at home.”
The bigger question now is who steps up as the Gamecocks’ leader on this team during tough times and big games, and right now Martin doesn’t know who that is. It’s easy to lead when a team is winning but needs a guy to step up during adversity.
He didn’t get that tonight.
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“Just take ownership in times where we had the game tied or we’re losing. We just have to take ownership and stay connected,” AJ Lawson said. “If we’re together, we have to get over that hump when we’re down.”
Martin is still looking for a guy who can step up, and it’s still early enough in the year where he can find one of those guys. Maik Kotsar is the team’s most experienced player and could, but Martin mentioned he got quiet tonight and can’t do that.
Justin Minaya is another guy who could step up and be a leader like that and, once he returns from a knee injury, Bryant could be another.
“When we’re up 20, like 10 of them (step up). I told them that. In the exhibition game, the first three games, they were all,” Martin said, flapping his hand, “They wouldn’t shut up. I’m telling them to shut up so I could talk in the timeouts. Today, I didn’t hear a bird in the timeout. That’s part of the deal.”
