Frank Martin had a sense it was coming earlier Wednesday morning during shoot around.

After what he called an “embarrassing” practice the day of a game on the road at Coastal, Martin told his team if things don’t get better by tipoff then the Chants would beat South Carolina by 20.

Fast-forward to the final buzzer and it was the Gamecocks losing by 24 in what is the worst loss of the early season for South Carolina.

“They were dominating us, period. No explanation. They were bigger, stronger. We're supposed to be tougher, they were more tough,” Erik Stevenson said. “We got our teeth kicked in in every aspect tonight. That is what it is.”

It’s South Carolina’s largest non-conference loss since losing to Boise State by 26 in Martin’s second year in Columbia.

The Gamecocks lead for just one minute of game time Wednesday night and shot less than 30 percent from the field.

They were without starting point guard Jermaine Couisnard, who is day to day with a groin injury, but it wouldn’t have mattered in the end.

“He could have played and we would have still lost by 20. We had no juice today we there's nothing one person could have done to change the outcome of it,” Martin said. “We were no good and not having Jermaine hurt but it wouldn’t have made a difference. We would have taken a 20-spot with or without him.”

The frustration bubbled up at the end especially with Josh Gray being flagged for a Flagrant II foul after throwing a ball at a player near the end of the game and causing a shoving match before the game ended.

There’s no basketball we talked about we're embarrassing we're embarrassing,” Martin said. “At the end of the day you have bad days but there's no excuse for acting like (that).”

Coming off a sluggish performance at times against Rider, Gamecocks struggled in nearly every aspect of the game Wednesday night.

They were out-rebounded by 11 and Coastal made over twice as many free throws (27) as South Carolina attempted (11) in a game where South Carolina didn’t look like the team that got off to a 5-1 start.

They’ll have to regroup quickly with Georgetown coming to town next and games against Florida State and Clemson up before SEC play starts.

“Have some toughness. It’s mental toughness. We’re on the road we've got some young guys we got some guys who lack mental toughness and guys who are a little immature, honestly,” Stevenson said.

“It’s one of those things where guys got man up and grow up quick. You know SEC play is right around the corner. We’re at Coastal now. You know it's going be two times at Tennessee. Guys got to grow up, including myself.”

----

• Not a subscriber? Learn more about Gamecock Central here!

• Watch our live show and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

• Sign up for Gamecock Central's FREE news alerts and daily newsletter.

• Subscribe to our podcast on whatever podcast platform you prefer!

• Follow us on Twitter: @GamecockCentral, @GCChrisClark, @WesMitchellGC, @CollynTaylor and @Mike_Uva.

• Follow Gamecock Central on Instagram @GamecockCentral.