SEC MEN

Offense embarrassing Martin

— Frank Martin is embarrassed about South Carolina’s offense, and the first-year coach isn’t sure when things will improve.

Martin said the Gamecocks (5-3) have lost games to Elon, St. John’s and rival Clemson in a large part because of their dreadful offensive execution.

South Carolina sits in the bottom half of the SEC in points scored, shooting percentage and points allowed.

Last Sunday, South Carolina trailed Clemson by at least 10 points much of the second half in a 64-55 loss. Martin called the offense inept right after the loss. His view didn’t change after watching tape the past few days.

Martin said he and his staff all watch the game again by themselves before comparing notes on a game’s highs and lows.

“Almost to the T, we’re all in agreement that the problem with our team is how embarrassingly bad we’ve been on offense,” Martin said this week. “We’ve got to fix that.”

Martin wasn’t sure what to expect from the Gamecocks when he left Kansas State after five successful seasons torebuild South Carolina’s struggling program. Still, he thought the attack would flow better than it has.

“Our team defense has been not great, but it’s beengood enough to win with,” Martin explained. “The problem is we’re giving teams so many free points because of our inability to play offense.” Martin’s seen too much individual play and not enough teamwork on the offensive side. He’s also complained about his team’s lack of communication during games, saying he’s seen more fire from his guys on Twitter than on the court this season.

“There’s been a little bit of a lack of communication coming out of time outs and listening to what the coach has been telling us,” said Brenton Williams, the Gamecocks’ leading scorer at 13.4 points a game.

Martin said the problem is partly leadership. He said his former Wildcats star Denis Clemente was a take-charge leader who knew the coach’swishes and ran games and practices with determination and precision.

The Gamecocks, like most struggling programs, are dealing with youth and the loss of players from last season’s chaos of going 2-14 in the SEC. Forward Damontre Harris transferred to Florida and Anthony Gill left for Virginia.

Point guard Bruce Ellington, the team’s top returning scorer from last year, returned to the team last week after finishing the football regular season.

Ellington, the Gamecocks top receiver with 38 catches and 564 yards, will leave the team again once South Carolina starts practicing for its game against Michigan in the Outback Bowl on New Year’s Day.

As frustrated as Martin is, he understands he’s in the early stages of reclamation project. He’s hopeful in time that leadership, communication and offense will all improve over time.

“We’ll get it right,” he said.

“That’s the beauty of a season is that you don’t practice to play eight games. You practice to play through March, and last time I checked, that’s three months away.”

Sports, Pages 18 on 12/07/2012

Upcoming Events