South Carolina will finally begin its SEC season when it hosts Texas A&M Wednesday night.

1. More players?

The Gamecocks used just eight players against Florida A&M, with a ninth, Mike Green, on the bench. They expect to get Jalyn McCreary back against the Aggies, and perhaps another, undisclosed, player.

“It looks like we’ll have a tenth player,” Frank Martin said, “and the possibility of an eleventh.”

McCreary was expected to be a major contributor this season, but he’s had an even tougher struggle than most of his teammates. McCreary missed a week of practice earlier this season (back when they still had practice) following a concussion. If he is able to play against the Aggies, McCreary will have participated in just four full practices since the beginning of November. But Martin doesn’t have the luxury of bringing McCreary back slowly.

“We have to stick him in there and figure out a way to allow him to make the mistakes he’s going to make,” Martin said. “That part has to be force-fed this year.”

2. More zone?

At first it sounds a bit counterintuitive, given the limited practice time, but Martin said South Carolina could play more zone defense this season. Playing zone would cut down on the switching and rotating that comes with man defense, and by extension the mistakes caused by lack of practice.

It also helps that South Carolina has a bunch of long, athletic wing players. They can disrupt passing lanes and close gaps, but it’s also easier to plug in different players based on who is available.

“I think our team can be a real good zone defensive team because of our length. We’ve got so many guys who are similar so they’re interchangeable,” Martin said. “We played really hard against Florida A&M. Defensively our rotations, our discipline were not as good as they needed to be. That was understandable.”

3. More Seventh?

Seventh Woods got his first start for the depleted Gamecocks against the Rattlers, and although that start came out of necessity, Martin liked what he got from the transfer guard.

Woods played 28 minutes (he played a total of 35 in the first three games), tied his season-high with eight points and set new season-highs with four assists and four rebounds. The numbers may seem modest, but Woods brings experience and poise that the Gamecocks need.

“I have not been happy with the consistency of our point guard play. I’m trying to get our point guards to play better,” Martin said. “I thought he gave us stability.”

Whether Woods remains in the starting lineup or returns to the bench depends on who is available. All options have to remain on the table this season.

4. More Wildens?

Before the Florida A&M game Martin wondered aloud how Wildens Leveque would respond to the long layoff. In Martin’s mind, Leveque played the best game of his career against Houston: five points and five rebounds in 25 starter-quality minutes. But instead of being able to build on the game and get some momentum, Leveque had to wait a month to play again. As Martin feared, Leveque backslid. He got the start and still had five points and five rebounds, but he picked up four fouls and regressed.

“Going into the game I told him, ‘You cannot commit stupid fouls.’ And he goes out there, bang, bang, and I think he had two fouls in the first three minutes of the game. He played better in the second half from that standpoint,” Martin said. “He worries too much so he gets too excited. He’s got to learn how to settle down. I don’t know if I’m the right personality to get him to settle down.”

Leveque will likely start again against Texas A&M. The competition will be stronger, so it will be even more important for him to play within himself and avoid foul trouble.

5. Scouting the Aggies

“Foul trouble” might be the key phrase. The short-handed Gamecocks obviously don’t have the depth to withstand a lot of fouls, and the Aggies are good at getting to the line. In the two games against the Gamecocks last season the Aggies took 41 and 23 free throws. If they had shot a little better than 68% in the first game, they might have won.

“The game at their place we fouled way too much which created problems for us,” Martin said. “The game at home we were a lot better at not committing some of those fouls. That’s the challenge when you coach against Buzz Williams’ teams. You have to guard the basketball.”

Sophomore forward Emanuel Miller leads the Aggies in scoring (17.1 points) and rebounding (8.6 rebounds), and keeping him from driving will be the primary objective for South Carolina. Miller is third in the SEC in free throws attempted and makes 76.4% of his tries.

Senior guard Quenton Jackson also averages in double figures at 12.0 points per game.

The Ws

Who: South Carolina (2-2, 0-0) vs Texas A&M (6-2, 1-1)

When: Wednesday, January 6, 9:00 pm

Where: Colonial Life Arena

Watch: ESPNU