Through multiple COVID shutdowns, why Gamecocks are compelled to press on with season
Frank Martin has been through this once already.
When the South Carolina head coach tested positive for COVID-19 in the first week of May, it stunned him. He had felt no obvious symptoms, receiving a test only as a precaution before knee-replacement surgery. Even though he was largely asymptomatic, Martin told The State he struggled going to sleep at night, worried about spreading the virus to wife Anya and their children, worried that the virus could suddenly escalate and take him “down for the count.”
Now, Martin has tested positive for COVID-19 a second time — in the midst of a prolonged team outbreak. And this time, the symptoms have been much more severe.
Martin tested positive a week ago, on Jan. 7, a day after his Gamecocks played just their second game in a month and somehow defeated Texas A&M with a shorthanded roster. But the highs of that improbable, gutsy victory quickly came crashing down.
COVID-19 struck the next day, and for a third time since early December, the Gamecocks were forced to shut down. Few details emerged about the nature of that third pause until Thursday night, when the school announced that the Gamecocks would resume their season and play at LSU on Saturday with Martin, assistant coach Chuck Martin and student-athlete development director Doug Edwards all absent.
Throughout the pandemic, Martin has declined to name the players on his roster who have tested positive, saying he believes it’s up to the individual players and their families to make their diagnoses public if they choose to.
But on Friday morning, Martin opened up to reporters about his second, more arduous experience with the virus. He spoke from his home, over a Zoom video call, wrapped up in warm clothes and wearing a winter toboggan. There was a slight nasality to his voice — and a weariness — his words interrupted every so often by small coughs. In one of his first lines, he said, “I’m happy that I’m sitting here talking to you right now.”
“I contemplated how to handle this because I don’t like to make things about me, because it’s not about me. It’s about our players. It’s about our program. This is not a Frank Martin issue,” Martin said. “But after thinking along the lines of how I need to manage this moment, I thought transparency’s always been one of my greatest gifts. I’m not trying to hide in a bubble somewhere.
“And I think it’s so important for so many out there to understand that this is the second time I’ve gone through this. The first time didn’t kick my tail the way this one kicked my tail.”
That kind of transparency stands out at a time when cases continue to rise in many states — and college basketball programs — across the country. The on-court collapse of Florida star Keyontae Johnson last month and his subsequent diagnosis of myocarditis, a condition associated with COVID-19, was an eye-opening moment for the sport. So, too, was the Duke women’s basketball team announcing it would forgo the rest of its season due to coronavirus concerns. Key college basketball figures like ESPN commentator Jay Bilas and Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski have called on the NCAA to provide more transparency about the teams affected by the virus.
There is no official tally from the NCAA on games missed by programs due to COVID-19, making it difficult to place South Carolina’s virus issues in context nationwide. Martin said he was told no team has missed more time between two games due to COVID-19 than the Gamecocks have. In all, the Gamecocks have postponed or canceled seven regular-season games and one exhibition. They’ve played just five games all season and only twice at home — compared with 16 regular-season games played by this time a year ago.
The team shut down for the first time after a Dec. 5 road game at Houston and postponed or canceled the next five games before resuming action Jan. 2 and Jan. 6 at home against Florida A&M and Texas A&M.
The constant stopping and starting and the time in isolation have been emotional, challenging experiences for the entire team, Martin said. But this third pause rattled the head coach in a more direct way.
“It was frustrating last week, and then when this thing actually jumps on you and you feel like crap, you just want to be healthy,” Martin said. “I feel really bad for our players. I feel bad not just for our team, but for players across the country right now. All you got to do is look on a nightly basis at how many games are being postponed and rescheduled and teams being told in a 24-hour window who your opponent is, and that’s not what college basketball was intended to be.
“This season was not the way it’s supposed to be. I get it, everyone’s trying to make it work so we can have a tournament, so we can all feel like we did everything in our powers to provide opportunities to everyone that wants to play. But as a coach, as a person that’s trying to guide young people to stay the course for a common goal, it gets really, really confusing sometimes when you’re dealing with these issues and the inability to make any sense out of it.”
Despite those concerns, Martin said his players still want to play and it’s his duty to help them do that. There’s been no talk of not moving forward with the season.
On Saturday night, the Gamecocks hit the road to play without their head coach.
Gamecocks grateful to play each game
If or when South Carolina assistant Bruce Shingler interviews to be a head coach someday, he’ll want to mention this week. This is the kind of week that builds resumes.
A fifth-year USC assistant, Shingler found out Wednesday night that both Frank Martin and top assistant Chuck Martin would be unavailable and that he would serve as the acting head coach in their absence.
When Shingler took over the team this week, the players could only practice at 25% effort, still building up from their time in COVID isolation. They’ve gradually increased their intensity day by day, with Shingler having to lead them on the road against a red-hot 9-2 LSU team, a team that has won four of five Southeastern Conference games. South Carolina, meanwhile, has only played one SEC game.
That’s not an easy situation for any coach to step into, yet Shingler seemed upbeat with reporters Friday, saying he and the whole staff felt prepared for this situation due to the way Martin empowers his assistants on a daily basis. First-year USC assistant Will Bailey has taken over LSU scouting duties in Chuck Martin’s absence, and Shingler and Bailey have worked together with video coordinator Brian Steele and special assistant John Reynolds to craft a game plan.
Shingler echoed a sentiment Martin has expressed many times during the pandemic: The Gamecocks are grateful just to play a game.
“They’re all excited, and they’re saying, ‘Bruce we got your back, and we want you to know we want to get this done,’” Shingler said. “And their spirits lift my spirits given the circumstances of the game. You think about the virus itself and how it affects everybody and when you talk about your leader being down and now you got to step up for him.”
Martin’s voice comes through loud and clear during practice even though he isn’t there, Shingler said. It’s embodied in the vocal leadership displayed by veterans A.J. Lawson, Jermaine Couisnard and Justin Minaya, whom Singler praised for the extra gear they’ve shown this week. After the team’s win against the Aggies, Martin said of the three: “Justin’s our spirit. Jermaine’s the personality. A.J.’s our charisma.”
All three have been crucial for the Gamecocks in their own ways and especially in their most recent two games, with veterans Keyshawn Bryant, Alanzo Frink and T.J. Moss unavailable presumably due to COVID-19 quarantine. Lawson scored a career-high 30 points in the team’s win against the Aggies and might be playing his best basketball as a Gamecock despite the choppiness of the season.
Though he rolled his ankle late in that win, Lawson should play for the Gamecocks on Saturday. And Shingler said 12 or 13 players could potentially be available, which is an upgrade from the nine and 10 players that were available in the team’s last two games, respectively. The team will also receive a boost in the form of 6-foot-11 center Tre-Vaughn Minott, a Montreal native who joined the team from NBA Academy Latin America.
Still, LSU poses quite a challenge, boasting a dynamic backcourt led by Cameron Thomas’ 21.8 points per game and Javonte Smart’s 43.6% 3-point shooting percentage. The Tigers have four players averaging more than 13 points per game.
“They are very, very talented, but our guys are prepared because of our mindset, the way we train, the way we go as a program,” Shingler said. “It’s just the next team up. Cam Thomas is an unbelievably good player. Trendon Watford, Darius Days, Javonte Smart — they’ve been around. And our guys have seen them. We have sophomores and juniors who have seen those guys before. So they’re excited about the challenge.”
Basketball still ‘a way of life’ for South Carolina
The joy is still there.
Even through this past week, through the aches of COVID-19, through the pauses and the postponements and cancellations, the Gamecocks still want to play. And even though COVID-19 has, in Martin’s own words, kicked their head coach’s tail, he still wants to lead them.
Few teams have been hit as hard by the pandemic as the Gamecocks have this season. Martin has talked often about the mental toll of playing through COVID-19, with players spending weeks cooped up in isolation and making daily sacrifices just to play games. He said what his team has been robbed off most is the ability to build camaraderie off the court, to connect in deeper ways beyond basketball, to give back to the community.
Few coaches have weathered as much as Martin has had to weather. He’s tested positive twice. After his first positive test in May, he started losing his hair in clumps. He shocked TV viewers when he sported a shaved head on the sideline during USC’s first game. And now he’s back in isolation while his team goes off to Baton Rouge. He said he’s starting to feel better and hopes his isolation ends Monday, a day before South Carolina is scheduled to play at Missouri.
But through it all, Martin said, the joy is still there.
“That’s why we keep showing up and practicing when we’re allowed to keep playing — it’s the love that we have for basketball and the love that we have for competing,” Martin said. “And that’s not going anywhere. That’s why we keep going.
“I mean, if this was just a job, if there’s no love for it, it’s just the job, we all would have opted out, kept our salaries, kept our scholarships and lived really stress-free this year. But that’s not the way we go about it. It’s not the way I approach it. It’s never been a job for me. I’ve had jobs. I don’t consider this a job. I consider this kind of a way of life.”
Known for his fire and passion, Martin has been noticeably more subdued on the bench this year. Calmer. Gentler. He recognizes that wins and losses aren’t what matter most this season. He talks to his players about the importance of maintaining a “sane mind and a strong spirit.”
It’s a testament to the strength of his team’s spirit that the Gamecocks won two games in January with a limited roster, after not playing for a month. USC’s 3-2 record does not come close to reflecting the tenacity the Gamecocks have shown in a trying season.
The Gamecocks have been beaten and battered by something beyond their control, yet the calmness Martin has displayed in media interviews has seemingly trickled down to his players.
In recent weeks, Martin has talked about the deep link he has with this particular group. And it’s not hard to see shades of the head coach in Seventh Woods when, after the team’s first game in nearly month, he said: “We knew for a long time we’d be limited, so there’s no excuses to make today.” Just like Martin, team leaders like Lawson and Minaya expressed after those games just how grateful they were to be able to “hoop again.”
“Our players, they don’t come at it every day as they’re being told what to do,” Martin said. “They’ve chosen to compete. And that’s what makes it frustrating is that we’ve got a group of guys that love to compete, love the game, they love to be around each other, guys that make it a whole lot of fun to go to work with every day.
“And all these different pauses we’ve had has deprived us of being in each other’s company while we all get to play and coach basketball. That’s the part that’s frustrating. But the love for it doesn’t go away. That’s why we keep doing it.”
USC’S NEXT GAME
Who: South Carolina (3-2, 1-0 SEC) at LSU (9-2, 4-1 SEC)
Where: Baton Rouge, La.
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Through multiple COVID shutdowns, why Gamecocks are compelled to press on with season."
