SOUTH CAROLINA BASKETBALL

The Gamecocks look to bounce back from their first loss of the season when they host the Runnin’ Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb.

1. Learning experience

You may consider the epitome of coach-speak, but Frank Martin is okay with the loss to BU. He won’t go so far as to say losing helps, but there is something to be gained. You learn about your team after every game, but especially after a loss. He has admitted on multiple occasions that he is still figuring out this team, and every bit of new information helps.

The emotions after a loss are different, but he still teaches, win or lose. His primary concern is how the team is practicing.

“If our guys are practicing the right way and someone beat us, you deal with it. If you wake up the next day and you’re lucky enough to do it again, you do it better,” Martin said. “There’s a big difference between losing and getting beat.”

2. Handling adversity

Tuesday night, Martin practically bragged about how calm he was during the loss to BU. No stomping or screaming or faces. Okay, maybe some, but not as much as you might expect. He was studying his team, as he said, and he wanted to see who would take on the leadership role when he left it up to the players. He also wanted to see how the team responded in practice, and was not happy with what he saw.

“It’s always fun when you take your first whooping of the year,” Martin said. “It makes for an uncomfortable (stretch) between games.”

The message about a lack of leadership has been received by players, but that doesn’t mean the problem is fixed. He saw progress in practice, but not enough.

“We had a couple guys still walking around with their feelings hurt,” Martin said. “I’m not real good with guys who walk around with their feelings hurt. We all have a job to do and we have a responsibility to come in every day and help one another.”

3. Defensive effort

The poor shooting against BU was, to some extent, understandable. BU’s zone was designed to encourage jump shots, and South Carolina obliged by missing those shots. Sometimes it happens. But that excuse doesn’t work for the lack of defensive effort.

“I think it was a sense of being connected on defense,” Justin Minaya said. “I don’t think we were all connected on the same page. It was a lot of being a step too late or not being where we were supposed to be.”

Martin did say Minaya tried to be more vocal in practice. Whether that improves communication remains to be seen.

4. Laik Maik

It has been well-documented, but to recap: senior Maik Kotsar had his best offseason coming into the year, but he got sick right before the season started and the head cold sapped his energy and focus, and it carried into the season.

Against Cleveland State Kotsar grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds; and then he scored 14 points against BU, surpassing his total (13 points) from the first three games. Kotsar did most of his work in the first half, which Martin attributed to fatigue due to the other post players’ lack of production.

“I thought Maik battled,” Martin said. “Maik didn’t get a lot of help from our bigs (Tuesday). . When you play a team like BU that’s got three guys that are old and aggressive, I thought Maik wore down as the game went on. Maik started off real aggressive. He created opportunities for himself.

As always with Kotsar, however, the question is whether he can sustain the productivity, or whether he will revert to being passive and unproductive. Martin also wants to see more leadership from Kotsar.

“He’s the one guy that has been through the fire,” Martin said. “He’s got to demand that those young guys take ownership.”

5. Scouting the Runnin’ Bulldogs

The game will be the second and final game of the on-campus portion of the Cancun Challenge. The teams head to Cancun next week for the Mexican portion. Gardner-Webb lost 74-52 at Wichita State Tuesday in their first game. Junior point guard Jaheam Cornwall scored a career-high 22 in the loss.

Gardner-Webb won the Big South Tournament last season, but offensive struggles have derailed the start to the season. Gardner-Webb is ranked 333rd in the country scoring just 58.8 points per game. It is shooting just 38.4 percent from the floor, ranked 317th. Gardner-Webb is still looking for its first win of the season, although it played North Carolina tough in Chapel Hill.

The Ws

Who: South Carolina vs Gardner-Webb

When: Friday, November 22, 7:00 pm

Where: Colonial Life Arena

Watch: SEC Network+