MBB: Five Things to Watch

It wouldn’t be basketball season without some bad news, would it? South Carolina’s top returning scorer Keyshawn Bryant has been suspended for the first five games of the season for violating athletic department policy. Bryant is coming off the best season of his career and was arguably South Carolina's best player last season when he averaged 14.4 points on 48.3% shooting and grabbed 5.4 rebounds.

Bryant did not play in the exhibition game due to a nagging knee injury.

“I’m not going to expand too much into that, I have too much respect for Keyshawn to give up too many details of his situation. This is not something I found out about yesterday. He has battled a knee in preseason,” Frank Martin said. “He could have played against Benedict but I didn’t play him because of his knee. His knee is in a good place right now but this is a decision that had to be made.”

Martin added that Bryant is in good spirits and is continuing to practice with the team. He called the news “disappointing,” but added that Bryant is “my guy.”

2. Who are these guys?

In addition to Bryant, South Carolina’s other top returning player, Jermaine Couisnard, missed the exhibition, as did center Tre-Vaughn Minott. With those three out, South Carolina played a roster almost entirely made up of newcomers. Only Wildens Leveque and little-used (or maybe barely-used) Mike Green, Ja’von Benson, and Ford Cooper were with South Carolina last season.

But the bulk of the team - nine players - are new. All the new faces mean lots of teaching in practice, which makes Martin happy. He joked that the fun part is that there is always something new to teach, but that means there is always another mistake.

3. Building off Benedict

Martin was generally happy with the Gamecocks’ performance in the exhibition. He didn’t like the play of his bigs (more on that later), but does he ever? What stood out was the guard play, which should only get better with the return of Couisnard.

James Reese had 21 points in 26 minutes and shot 9-11 from the floor. Erik Stevenson 14 points, and freshman Devin Carter had 13 off the bench. Martin is excited about all three, especially on the defensive end of the court.

“James Reese and Devin Carter are elite on ball defenders,” Martin said. “Erik Stevenson fights the ball. We’ve got different guys that can really get after it.”

4. About the bigs

Josh Gray had a double-double off the bench with 10 points and 12 rebounds, but he was the lone bright spot inside. Martin was extremely unhappy that junior starter Wildens Leveque had just four rebounds, and he was unhappy that, as a team, South Carolina shot just seven free throws. He was also upset about how the post players defended ball screens, but he softened his stance this week.

After a week working on defense in practice, Martin is pleased with where things stand.

“I’m extremely excited,” Martin said. “We’ve had tremendous workouts and practices since the Benedict game.”

“I’ve got no complaints whatsoever with this team.”

5. Scouting the Spartans

Upstate went 5-18 last season and lost three starters. The Spartans only return one of their top four scorers - point guard Dalvin White. White is a steady hand running the team and he was fourth in the Big South in assist-to-turnover ratio. Guard Bryson Mozone is the other returning starter, and he was a top ten three point shooter in the Big South, hitting 39% from behind the arc.

Upstate had a COVID-marred season to rival South Carolina’s. The Spartans missed the bulk of their preseason practices and coach Dave Dickerson coached the season remotely due to COVID concerns. It was a major step back for a program that had shown improvement under Dickerson.

“They were starting to turn the corner,” Martin said. “All that work they put in was paying off.”

The Ws

Who: South Carolina vs USC Upstate

When: Tuesday, November 9, 7:00 pm

Where: Colonial Life Arena

Watch: SEC Network+

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