What are expectations this year for Jermaine Couisnard?

When the Gamecocks take the court in a little over 24 hours for their season opener against North Alabama, it’ll be a moment almost a year and a half in the making for Jermaine Couisnard.

The second-year guard, who spent all of last season sitting out with an academic issue, will play for the first time—exhibition or real game—under the lights at Colonial Life Arena.

“I’m sure there’s some excitement going on in there for him. He’s such a competitor and loves to play. He’s a very intellectual basketball player and comprehends what you want and where things are,” Frank Martin said. “I’m sure there’s some excitement. We can all play pickup in practice as much as we want, there’s nothing like a game day. It’s been a while since he’s had a game day.”

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Couisnard was the first commitment in the 2018 class and will be the last of the seven-man recruiting class to finally get a chance to put on the jersey for real and log actual minutes in a game against another team.

After committing to South Carolina in early 2018, Couisnard got to campus and wasn’t eligible to play his freshman season, instead redshirting and spending his gap year in the weight room so he was better prepared for when his number is called.

It looked like his first chance to play would have been last week against CIU in an exhibition, but he picked up a fever the day of the game and didn’t play, saving his debut for Wednesday night.

There will undoubtedly be emotions for a guy who had to sit and watch last season from the bench, but Martin doesn’t think those will hinder what he’s able to do on the court.

“I’m excited for him,” Martin said. “The way he’s built, I don’t think it’ll be a negative for him. I think he’ll understand how to put them nerves aside and go out there and play. I’m excited for him. He deserved to have played last year, and I’m excited he’s going to get that opportunity.”

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The next big question is if he’ll start and, if he doesn’t, how much does he play?

Martin mentioned experimenting with AJ Lawson, Jair Bolden and Couisnard all on the court at the same time in practice this weekend and that seems feasible.

He could start, but it could also be beneficial to have a guy who averaged almost 30 points his senior year of high school.

The 6-foot-4 guard came to college with the reputation of a prolific scorer, posting 29.2 points, 4.3 rebounds at East Chicago Central, but he needed to brush up on the Gamecocks’ defensive scheme.

He didn’t have a chance to really learn it last year, playing more on scout team getting his teammates ready for the next game, but has grown leaps and bounds now he’s eligible to play.

“Jermaine’s obviously a great player offensively and the same defensively. He’s real physical, real tough. He guards me during practice,” Justin Minaya said. “I get a good feel for him defensively and I get the feel he’s a good defensive player."

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Playing last year would obviously been beneficial for both Couisnard and the Gamecocks, but it didn’t happen.

Instead, he spent his sit out year getting his body ready for what could be a big season this year for him.

“My body got better and I got bigger and stronger,” he said. “That’s a big plus.”