For the first time since the program suspended the team’s activities on December 8, the South Carolina men’s basketball team will resume training on Saturday. With team players still isolated due to a positive test or quarantined due to close contact with a positive test, head coach Frank Martin said only eight of the team’s 15 players will be available to train on Saturday.
“Whether you’re in isolation in quarantine, whenever you return to court, it’s not like we take the line and go back to where we were,” said Martin during his Carolina Calls program on Gamecocks radio. “There are eight guys who are capable of doing 50 percent of what a full workout would normally be on Saturday. That’s what we’re going to do. For anyone who says, ‘Well, if they’re healthy enough to practice, why can’t they play Clemson? “We can’t go 100 percent. We can only do 50 percent of our normal workload on Saturday with eight of our players.
“On Sunday we can do a little more and the second is the first time that we can really go at full speed. We still won’t have a full team on Monday. I believe we will have nine guys on Monday, maybe 10. slowly, but I certainly hope to continue adding people until we’re a full team of 15. “
Gamecocks (1-2) had to cancel their last three games; the home debut against Wofford on December 10, a road date with George Washington on December 14, and Saturday’s midday denunciation against Clemson at the Colonial Life Arena. While the first two games have been completely canceled, Martin hopes that the Gamecocks and Tigers will be able to play later this season.
“At the moment, my focus is not even on the opponent,” said Martin. “You can’t worry about playing a game. At the moment, my focus is on our players, ensuring that they are up to date, physically back to a place where they can sustain the effort required to play and the simplicity of basketball, X’s and O’s. We can’t go back to where we were on December 4, when we trained for the Houston game. It was an accumulation of seven consecutive weeks of training. We won’t be there when we meet again. I’m going to manage Saturday and then Sunday and then Monday- At the end of the day there is a game scheduled for the 23rd. I will be much more consumed with us than the opponent, which is a different place for me at this time of year. “
South Carolina remaining calendar
Wednesday, December 23 – State of SC – 19h
Tuesday, December 29 – in Kentucky – 19h
Saturday, January 2 – Florida A&M – 3:30 pm
Wednesday, January 6 – Texas A&M – 9:00 pm
Saturday, January 9 – at Ole Miss – 18h
Tuesday, January 12 – Tennessee – 19h
Saturday, January 16 – at LSU – 8:30 pm
Tuesday, January 19th – in Missouri – 19h
Saturday, January 23 – Auburn – 12:00
Wednesday, January 27 – Georgia 19h
Saturday, January 30 – in Vanderbilt – 8:30 pm
Wednesday, February 3 – in Florida – 6:30 pm
Saturday, February 6 – State of Mississippi – 3:30 pm
Tuesday, February 9 – Alabama – 6:30 pm
Saturday, February 13 – Ole Miss – 18h
Tuesday, February 16 – in Tennessee – 8:30 pm
Saturday, February 20 – Missouri – 2pm or 4pm
Wednesday, February 24 – in the state of Mississippi – 19h
Saturday, February 27 – in Georgia – 1 pm
Tuesday, March 2 – Arkansas – 6:30 pm
March 10-14 – SEC Tournament (Nashville)
“The 23rd should be our first game back and then we have Kentucky on the 29th and Florida A&M on the 2nd of January,” said Martin. “We will try to fit another game or two somewhere between 23 and 2 January. Somehow, we will see if there are one or two opponents with equal dates to play. If we can do it, great. If we can’t, we have to protect our team. for the conference game. Normally, I would say that we have to win as much as we can. That’s the plan, but first we have to play to win. “
Gamecocks have only played three games since the season began on November 28. They lost to Liberty and defeated Tulsa in the Kansas City Hall of Fame and lost to the then null. 10 Houston on the 5th December road.