McCreary out Wednesday

South Carolina will be without one if its key bigs Wednesday night when it takes on Mississippi State on the road.

The Gamecocks announced Jalyn McCreary will miss tonight's game still recovering from a head injury he picked up in Saturday's win over Tennessee.

“He’s Looney Tunes. He’s got Tweety Bird and Bugs Bunny confused right now," Frank Martin said on Monday. "He’s better today. He wasn’t doing well yesterday. When I mean well, it’s not like he’s in dire straights. He got whacked in the head pretty good.”

McCreary was great to start the game, getting eight points on five shots before crashing into a camera man coming down off a block. He'd leave the game soon after and didn't return to the bench after halftime.

Without him, the Gamecocks are down a long, rangy player going up against the tallest team in the SEC (South Carolina is No. 2) in Mississippi State.

With McCreary out, they'll need extra help from guys like Wildens Leveque and Alanzo Frink but Martin said Trey Anderson could potentially see some extended minutes as well.

Anderson has only played in eight games this season, averaging 2.8 minutes per game. He's 0-for-7 on the season (0-for-3 from three) and his only points have come off free throws.

"He's a good sized kid that's really, really active. Getting to the right place and ball handling are two things that I don't want to say he's struggled with but other people have done a lot better than him. It's not that he's doing anything wrong, but other people are doing things better. Down Justin, everyone slides over a seat. Now if we're down Justin and Jalyn, everyone slides down another seat. He's grown as a player. He has the ability to shoot and rebounds the ball. He's active," Martin said. "Why not? Throw him out there. We believed in him to offer him a scholarship."

The Gamecocks (16-9, 8-4 SEC) are on the bubble currently and will also be without Justin Minaya, who's missed the last two weeks and is still waiting to see if he'll be able to play once he gets his cast removed at the beginning of March.

“They’ll re-evaluate the healing of the ligament. We wouldn’t know anything until then," Martin said. "Once that re-evaluation takes place, the way it’s been explained to me, then the option of Justin and trying to cast the thumb to where he still has wrist movement is on the table. It’s pending on what that early March re-evaluation tells the doctors.”

Tip off in Starkville Wednesday is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.