Oct. 14, 2014

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina men’s basketball team has completed one week of preseason practice. GamecocksOnline.com spoke with third-year head coach Frank Martin, sophomore guard Sindarius Thornwell and junior forward Michael Carrera on their thoughts about the opening week of training.

“After one week of practice, it’s clear that we are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were at after one week of practice the past two years,” Martin said. “The leadership of our team and the understanding of each other is really good. We have to continue to push the buttons to get continued growth from every member of our team, so as we continue to grow, we are all prepared to do our part to deal with the whole season.”

Martin spoke during his first press conference of the preseason last week that the first two weeks of team training would focus on instilling his offense before putting in defense in the following weeks. The team is just 12 days away from the Sunday, Oct. 26, exhibition contest versus Benedict College (4 p.m., ET, free admission, SEC Network+), and the season officially gets underway on Friday, Nov. 14, versus North Florida (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).

Thornwell enters his sophomore year after a record-setting rookie campaign in which he posted the most 20-point games in SEC play (six) ever by a Carolina freshman en route to SEC All-Freshmen Team honors. Thornwell echoed Martin’s thoughts on the opening week of practice.

“I think everything this week has been very good as far as attitude and energy,” Thornwell commented. “I think that the freshmen are coming along and understanding what coach wants and understanding the offense. I think we got better [during the opening week of preseason].”

Carrera has led the team in rebounding in each of his two seasons in the Garnet and Black, and mentioned the hard work the team has put in over the course of the past week of practice.

“The first week of practice has been good,” Carrera said. “We have been working very hard. We are doing what the coaches say every single day and doing the best that we can.”

The team continues preseason training through the exhibition contest and early November before the season officially begins. Continue to visit GamecocksOnline.com during the preseason for updates on the squad.