South Carolina coach Frank Martin said he believes his team’s opening-night 78-60 win over South Carolina-Upstate was good preparation for his team’s next game, which could be viewed as a glance in the mirror.
South Carolina is set for a matchup with Princeton on Friday in the first round of the Asheville Championship at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, N.C.
“Princeton plays the same way,” Martin said, “so it’s good that we were forced to do this.”
He likely meant playing against a deliberate motion offense that uses plenty of cutting to the basket. USC-Upstate led by nine in the first half before the short-handed Gamecocks restored order behind 14 points, six rebounds and seven assists from Jermaine Couisnard.
South Carolina was without its leading returning scorer and rebounder, Keyshawn Bryant, who is suspended for the first five games for violating an unspecified athletic department policy.
George Mason transfer AJ Wilson, that program’s all-time leader in blocked shots, sat out after straining his back the day before the game, Martin said. However, Martin said Wilson could return in some capacity to face Princeton.
Couisnard also had four turnovers against USC-Upstate and Martin noted that “some of his decision-making was a little off,” attributing that to time the point guard missed in preseason practice due to a hamstring injury and having a wisdom tooth pulled.
“Jermaine’s going to be fine,” Martin said. “He’s got to get his wind back. He’s in a good place.”
But missing a few days or even a week or two of practice can’t compare to what Princeton went through as a team. The Tigers sat out an entire season of competition when the Ivy League shut down all of its sports in 2020-21 because of COVID-19.
Princeton finally returned to the hardwood on Tuesday with a 94-28 win over Division 3 Rutgers-Camden.
Prior to that, coach Mitch Henderson said of finally being back in practice, “It felt regular but it wasn’t. We don’t like being different. We want to be like everybody else.
“Hopefully we can play well enough to get rid of those questions,” he added.
Star senior Jaelin Llewellyn (15.3 points in 2019-20) said of being back, “It was a big reminder of how much I enjoy this environment,” adding, “(I) want to make the most of it.”
–Field Level Media
