The Gamecocks are once again in the top half of the SEC and once again have a duo of players tabbed to All-SEC teams.
Maik Kotsar and Jermaine Couisnard were both named All-SEC selections in different capacities with Kotsar earning All-SEC second team and Couisnard one of eight players named to the All-Freshman team.
“I mean, we were picked twelfth by the coaches and finished tied for sixth, right? I would like to think our players deserve awards," Frank Martin said in his press conference Monday. "If we were picked by everybody to basically be dragging the bottom of the league and once again we finish upper half, I’d like to think our players would be rewarded for some kind of award.”
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This marks the fifth-straight year a Gamecock has landed on an All-SEC team with Sindarius Thornwell, Chris Silva and Michael Carrera each doing it and the fourth time in Martin's tenure he's had an All-Freshman player: AJ Lawson in 2019, Thornwell in 2014 and Michael Carrera in 2013.
“I believe it’s about winning, not stats," Martin said. "Every bad team has a player with good statistics. He’s also part of the reason they’re a bad team. When you win, I think the players deserve a lot of credit.”
The awards are a well-deserved honor for Kotsar, who rebounded from a struggle of a two-year stretch to have a dominant senior season.
He'd finish the regular season with career highs in points (11.2) rebounds (6.3), assists (2.3), field goal percentage (49.8), free throw percentage (69) and minutes (30.5) per game.
As a senior, he put together a tremendous resume for the conference's defensive player of the year, but he did not earn All-Defensive team honors.
Among all SEC players, he was third in defensive rating, defensive win shares and defensive box plus/minus and was top 10 in steals per game while finishing 12th in blocks per game.
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Couisnard, after sitting out and redshirting all of last year, announced his presence in a big way, drilling a halfcourt shot against Kentucky in his first career start.
That sparked a solid freshman campaign that saw him average 14.8 points, 3.6 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game in SEC play while shooting 39.9 percent from the field.
He finished the regular season 10th in assist rate (23.9).
Couisnard is the fourth different Gamecock to earn All-Freshman team honors, joining AJ Lawson (2019), Sindarius Thornwell (2014) and Michael Carrera (2013).
The Gamecocks (18-13, 10-8) finished their regular season tied for sixth in the SEC and will be the No. 6 seed once the conference tournament starts Wednesday.
Their first game will be approximately 9:30 p.m. ET against either No. 11-seeded Arkansas or No. 14 Vanderbilt.
Full All-SEC teams
First Team All-SEC
Kira Lewis Jr., Alabama
Mason Jones, Arkansas
Samir Doughty, Auburn
Keyontae Johnson, Florida
Immanuel Quickley, Kentucky
Nick Richards, Kentucky
Skylar Mays, LSU
Breein Tyree, Ole Miss
Reggie Perry, Mississippi State
Second Team All-SEC
John Petty Jr., Alabama
Isaac Okoro, Auburn
Kerry Blackshear Jr., Florida
Anthony Edwards, Georgia
Tyrese Maxey, Kentucky
Maik Kotsar, South Carolina
John Fulkerson, Tennessee
Saben Lee, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman Team
Jaden Shackelford, Alabama
Isaac Okoro, Auburn
Scottie Lewis, Florida
Anthony Edwards, Georgia
Tyrese Maxey, Kentucky
Trendon Watford, LSU
Jermaine Couisnard, South Carolina
Scotty Pippen Jr., Vanderbilt
All-Defensive Team
Herbert Jones, Alabama
Isaac Okoro, Auburn
Ashton Hagans, Kentucky
Nick Richards, Kentucky
Yves Pons, Tennessee
Coach of the Year: John Calipari, Kentucky
Player of the Year: Immanuel Quickley, Kentucky
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Skylar Mays, LSU
Freshman of the Year: Anthony Edwards, Georgia
Sixth-Man of the Year: Tyson Carter, Mississippi State
Defensive Player of the Year: Yves Pons, Tennessee
