It took an extra day, but South Carolina will face #19 Tennessee Wednesday night in Knoxville.
1. Injury updates
South Carolina will be without two starters against Tennessee. Jermaine Couisnard injured his ankle early in the Ole Miss game, and Justin Minaya suffered a head injury in the final minute. Neither will make the trip to Knoxville.
On Tuesday, Frank Martin said he will decide on a starting lineup Wednesday morning.
“We practiced a certain way yesterday,” he said. “I’m not going to tell you I didn’t like it, but I wasn’t completely in love with what I saw. I’m going to digest it and think about it, and (Wednesday) at shootaround I’ll make a decision.”
2. Wasn’t this yesterday?
The game, originally scheduled for Tuesday night, was postponed 24 hours after a positive test result among Tennessee’s Tier 1 personnel, which is players, coaches, and staff, on Monday. Another round of test results came back all negative Tuesday morning and the game was back on. It is unclear who tested positive.
That did not mean South Carolina got an extra day of practice. Wednesday was originally scheduled to be an off day, and when the game got moved to Wednesday, that off day had to move to Tuesday.
“It’s the life we’ve been living for the last 11 months as a country. It’s the world we’ve been trying to manage since we tried to kick the season off. It’s wait and see, day-to-day,” Martin said. “There’s people that make those decisions and they gave us clarity so we’ll be on the bus and away we go.”
3. Nathan Time?
Little-used Nathan Nelson had played just 28 minutes all season when he was pressed into emergency duty against Tennessee almost exactly one year ago. He played a then-career-high nine minutes of tenacious defense to help South Carolina upset Tennessee. He could be counted on again this year.
It wouldn’t be nearly as shocking as last year. While Nelson hasn’t quite cracked the regular rotation, he has been playing a few minutes here and there, including 13 minutes in the upset win over Florida. Nelson has been producing, too. He has made his last four three-point attempts, dating back to the second half against Vanderbilt.
“He’s awesome. I told him two weeks ago I should have been playing you more since the word go this year,” Martin said after the Ole Miss game. “He deserved the right to get on the floor because he’s one of the guys that knows what he’s supposed to do, genuinely takes his responsibilities and pride in doing things the right way. He’s got courage.”
4. Will South Carolina be motivated?
That’s been the question before every game for about a month. It feels especially relevant with a short-handed team facing a delayed game. Will the Gamecocks rally against the odds or just go through the motions? I wish I could tell with this team, but we’ll find out by about 9:20 tonight.
5. Scouting the Volunteers
Once upon a time - January - Tennessee was ranked #6 in the country and had been living in the top ten for most of the season. But consecutive losses followed and the Vols are just 4-4 in their last eight games.
During that stretch, Tennessee’s frontcourt of John Fulkerson and Yves Pons, who have historically dominated South Carolina, have done a disappearing act. They are averaging a combined 5.7 points per game over the last three games and their season scoring averages are down four and two points from last season, respectively. Last season, Fulkerson averaged 20 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two meetings with South Carolina, while Pons averaged 8.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 4.0 blocks.
As the two seniors have slumped, freshman guards Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson have filled the void. Springer is averaging 12.2 points per game and shooting 54% from three, while Johnson is averaging 10.2 points. This is despite the fact that they have only become starters in the last month or so and both play less than 25 minutes per game.
The Ws
Who: South Carolina (5-9, 3-7) at #19 Tennessee (14-5, 7-5)
When: Wednesday, February 17, 9:00 pm
Where: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, TN
Watch: SEC Network
