SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

With his team down one with 10.4 seconds remaining, a timeout in hand and Tennessee with the ball, Frank Martin told his team one thing: if the Vols miss their upcoming shot, he’s not calling a timeout.

What happened next defined the game and could potentially define the early part of SEC play for the Gamecocks.

“I feel like we didn’t have enough time to run a play,” Jermaine Couisnard said. “It was the mindset of whoever gets it push the ball and put up whatever shot you can get; go to the basket.”

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South Carolina forced a miss and Martin held true to his word, keeping his lone timeout left in his pocket as AJ Lawson hauled in the miss and took off toward the basket only to get called for a charge before even getting a shot off.

Tennessee ultimately won the game 56-55 after Lawson was called for the charge, pushing the Gamecocks’ losing streak to three games and their SEC start to 0-2. The last time they started winless over their first three games in conference play was 2014, Martin’s second year in Columbia.

With games against Kentucky, at Texas A&M and at Auburn on the docket, dropping a winnable game on the road could make this a potential rocky start to SEC play.

“It’s what we wanted. I told them if they score, I’ll take a timeout because we obviously we have to come up with a three point shot there,” Martin said postgame. “If they don’t score, just run to the corners and just go. If they try to settle you down, Maik was running into a quick drag ball screen in the middle of the court. I told them: you’ll have time for about five dribbles and a shot. AJ, he went."

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As Lawson barreled into the lane at a hundred miles an hour, Tennessee big man John Fulkerson slid over and took the charge, and postgame Martin said he didn’t see an issue with the call.

“That’s more of a play where you give their guy credit than our guy a fault,” he said. “Fulkerson made a heck of a play there to get in front of the ball there and take a charge.”

But the play is the latest in an overarching issue for Lawson, who is in the midst of a three-game slump after coming up big a few times in the win over Virginia.

Lawson mustered just four points in Saturday’s loss, all of which came from the free throw line. The sophomore finished going 0-for-7 from the field—missing both three pointers he attempted—and had two assists to two turnovers.

He’d look off a lot, missing a potential game-tying dunk late in the second half and starting point guard Jair Bolden struggled to find any minutes after halftime, playing just five after the break.

They combined for six points in a combined 41 minutes (28 for Lawson, 13 for Bolden) and shot 0-for-12 from the field, 0-for-3 from three.

The Gamecocks (8-7, 0-2 SEC) mustered their second lowest offensive efficiency of the season, averaging 75.5 points per 100 possessions, second only to 65.3 against Wichita State.

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“Obviously it’s difficult,” Maik Kotsar said. “Everyone has their off days. They’re had theirs we have to just have everyone else contribute when they don’t. Every game there’s someone who has an off day. Everyone else has to compete.”

With those two struggling, the Gamecock offense did as well with the team shooting 32.8 percent from the field and just 15.4 from three, the lowest since the season opener against North Alabama (9.5 percent).

They’d also get blocked 11 times.

Martin’s been trying to get Lawson and Bolden, the team’s starting backcourt all season, to figure it out and play with some consistency, but it’s not coming right now.

At this point, Martin is putting the onus on that duo to get right mentally and start playing with more competitive juice.

“Those two have to figure it out themselves. I can’t help guys that aren’t playing with fire. They’re good dudes. They have to figure that out. I can’t worry about motivating guys to compete. That’s an intrinsic thing, not an extrinsic thing. They have to be a lot more competitive,” Martin said.

“The word casual comes to mind a lot when you ask me about those two guys. It’s unfortunate because they’re both very talented and they’re both good young men. We need them to change gears and help us win.”