Frank Martin faces conundrum heading into SEC play

Heading into conference play, the Gamecocks have a few glaring questions and a short amount of time to answer them.

Last Monday’s 63-56 loss to Stetson left South Carolina with a few glaring questions and a short amount of time for head coach Frank Martin to answer them.

During his post-game press conference Martin cited a lack of a clear cut leader emerging as one of the issues. Because of that, his team has a tendency to let the game dictate how they play instead of the other way around.

When things are going well, the Gamecocks play well. When shots aren’t falling, problems arise.

“It’s all I talk to the guys about before the game is let’s figure out who we are,” Martin said. “We can’t be Jekyll and Hyde. You can’t be both. You gotta have one personality. Who are we?”

He added that not having a clear identity is not something that can be easily masked.

“You can’t fake the funk. You gotta be who you are,” he said. “Because the games don’t go away,” he said. “We gotta go out there and perform in front of people and compete. You’re not faking the funk, you’re going to get exposed when you’re not prepared to go do what you’re supposed to do and be excited about the opportunity and that’s the immaturity with this team that I can’t figure out.”

On Jan. 7, the Gamecocks take on a Florida team that is coming of a 104-98 overtime win over Alabama to move to 1-0 on the year in SEC play. Martin said he believes he’ll be able to figure out how to light a fire under his team, as well as get them to play with some consistency, as they get into their conference schedule.

“This is what will give me peace as I lay in my bed and stare at my ceiling; for 34 years I’ve been able to figure it out,” he said. Thirty-four years I’ve been able to lay there and figure out what button to push, how to do something to get our team to play better at the end of the year.”