South Carolina Basketball Coach Frank Martin says that veteran owner AJ Lawson can play a game of basketball without breaking a sweat, but Lawson admitted that he had his hands on his knees and was exhausted at the end of his team’s 78-71 victory on Saturday against Florida A&M.
This only shows how being out of the court, both from the point of view of games and training, may have caused problems for Gamecocks (2-2) on Saturday.
When South Carolina returned from Houston, there were positive COVID-19 tests on the team and a break was placed on all basketball activities. The team was preparing to return to training in mid-December, but more positives emerged and the second shutdown happened.
This meant that there were no games, no training, and players quarantined – which was a big part of the team – couldn’t even go to the gym to take doses. Although there were other concerns in Martin’s mind, conditioning was certainly one of them.
“There are certain guys on our team who can just run until the cows come home,” said Martin. “AJ Lawson can probably run a marathon and not take a deep breath; it was just built that way. Jermaine and Justin are a little different. When their engines are running and these guys tend to play a lot, they get tired. Their conditioning is very important, because it gives them the advantage of continuing to progress ”.
Gamecocks had only nine players available, with two – freshman Ja’Von Benson and walk Ford Cooper – never played in South Carolina. Another, Trey Anderson, had only three minutes played this season.
Martin would need to count on the veterans he had at his disposal, but second year Wildens Leveque left the game on three minutes with two fouls, making Saturday’s task even more difficult.
As the game was drawing to a close and his team maintained a small advantage in what was a close contest, Martin saw a group weakened in terms of energy, but a group whose momentum had not diminished.
“With about four and a half (minutes) to play, we had some tired guys on the court,” said Martin. “In that range of media, they were great. Their spirit was great, but we were a tired team. How the hell we finished and closed that game, I don’t know. “
Moving out of the media timeout, the Gamecocks closed the competition in an 8-2 run, which started after Lawson secured a block in the transition defense before Couisnard hit a three-point basket in the next quick break.
Jermaine Couisnard played 36 minutes, Lawson was 34 and Justin Minaya at 33 years old. Senior Seventh woods played 28 minutes while four other Gamecocks, including Anderson and Benson, played double-digit minutes.
At the end of 40 minutes, with a seven point win guaranteed,
“I feel like everyone was definitely a little out of breath, but we had to get over it,” said Lawson. “I know for myself, I was tired. A few moves, I was a little kneeling, but it was worth it. We were stuck and ended up winning. That’s what this is about. “
It was South Carolina’s first game since December 7 and there were only a few practice sessions with a short-handed team. Conditioning for the Gamecocks was going to be a factor, and it was, but South Carolina recovered at the end of the game to crown their return to the court with a victory.