South Carolina will try to end a five-game losing streak against Mississippi State, the team that started it.

1. Injury updates

Starting guard Jermaine Couisnard suffered an ankle injury early against Ole Miss and missed the last two games. He has been cleared to return to practice, but will not have had a full practice and will likely be a game-time decision, according to Frank Martin.

“Yesterday he did some things on the court and we’ll see what he does today,” Martin said Tuesday.

Starting forward Justin Minaya was injured at the end of the Ole Miss game and did not play against Tennessee. He returned for the Missouri game but did not start. It was just the fourth time in Minaya’s career that he came off the bench. When he spoke to the media Tuesday, Martin hadn’t decided on Wednesday’s starting lineup.

“I’m going to make a decision after practice,” he said.

2. Offensive woes

This season South Carolina has become a jump-shooting team that can’t shoot. The Gamecocks are shooting 42.3% from the floor, 266hth in the nation, and 31.8% from three, 259th in the nation. Some of the shooting woes are the result of not having any inside scoring presence. Alanzo Frink isn’t a huge scoring threat, but he is the team’s best low post scorer so losing him for the season hurts. But mostly it is an overall lack of cohesion on offense.

“When we’re struggling we tend to play a little bit selfishly and quick offensively, which is lack of trust and not trusting in your structure and not trusting in your teammates so you think you have to go do it yourself,” Martin said.

3. Defensive woes

Of course, the struggles on offense are nothing compared to those on defense. South Carolina is 319th in the nation in points allowed, an unthinkable number for a Frank Martin team. In Martin’s first season, a team that only had three or four players who belonged on an SEC roster, the Gamecocks allowed 71.2 points per game. That’s more than seven points less than the 78.4 the Gamecocks are allowing this season.

The players understand the problem. Martin said there have been “seven or eight” team meetings about playing better and doing the right things. After all, most of these players were the same team that gave up just 69.5 points per game last season. But the talk doesn’t translate into action.

“Our players talk about it. They say all the right things. We struggle in the moment when it comes to sustaining. We’ll make that physical play one time,” Martin said. “We’ll deal with contact for a play, but we can’t sustain the discipline and effort to deal with it play after play after play. That’s the resolve that I’m talking about.”

4. Streaking

If South Carolina loses to Mississippi State it will be the sixth consecutive loss for the Gamecocks. That would tie the longest losing streak under Martin. South Carolina lost six consecutive games in 2018, six straight to start league play in 2014, and six straight in 2013. All of the losing streaks occurred during league play, although the 2018 stretch began with a loss to Texas Tech in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

5. Scouting the Bulldogs

The current five-game winning streak began with a loss to Mississippi State. It came just days after South Carolina’s best game of the season, the 77-62 win at Florida that made it seem for a few days like the Gamecocks might have turned the corner on their season. Instead, they were bullied by Mississippi State (no pun intended), outrebounded by 16 and offering little resistance on defense.

The Bulldogs are a bad matchup for the Gamecocks inside with 6-11 Abdul Ado and 6-10 Tolu Smith towering over the Gamecocks’ small frontline. Martin could understand the Gamecocks struggling there. What he couldn’t understand was the Gamecocks' failure to defend on the perimeter and allowing DJ Stewart to score a career-high 29 points.

“They’re a very physical team and they set hard screens,” Martin said. “We have to find the resolve to not give into contact. We have to find the resolve to play better as far as the guy on the ball, because they are going to ball screen.”

The Ws

Who: South Carolina (5-11, 3-9) at

When: Wednesday, February 24, 7:00 pm

Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Miss

Watch: SEC Network