Oct. 20, 2014

Buy Season Tickets | Reserve Appointment To “Select A Seat” And Purchase Season Tickets At Oct. 26 Exhibition vs. Benedict

COLUMBIA, S.C. – University of South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Frank Martin held his weekly press conference on Monday, Oct. 20, in advance of the team’s exhibition contest versus Benedict College on Sunday, Oct. 26. Below are quotes from the media availability:

Head Coach Frank Martin
Opening statement
You saw us on Friday, those of you that were there [at the open practice], a lot of excitement. I’m extremely excited about our two freshmen and what they bring to the table. Marcus Stroman is going to be phenomenal. I’m so proud of Ty Johnson because he’s doing it the right way, which makes Marcus play the game the right way. TeMarcus Blanton has an unbelievable enthusiasm and toughness that he brings to the table and that makes Sindarius [Thornwell] a better player. I’m extremely excited. You saw a little glimpse of the energy and enthusiasm that Michael [Carrera] is playing with again. It’s fun to watch what he does.

On scheduling a game with Benedict
I was at a dinner in the community and Bobby Gist said something to me about it. I said `I don’t see why that game [can’t happen].’ Fred [Watson] and I are friends and he said `you know they’ve [South Carolina and Benedict] never played each other.’ I said `you’ve got to be kidding me.’ I researched it and I realized that that game has never taken place and that makes zero sense to me. You have two universities that have impacted communities in a positive way right down the block from one another. To think that they’ve never played in any way, shape or form is kind of, I don’t know, maybe its because I’m not from here, but it makes zero sense to me. We called Fred and he said `Frank are you kidding me, I would come watch you practice as much as I can. It would be awesome for our schools and our teams to do that,’ and the rest is history. It was the right thing to do. I think it’s a powerful game for this community. I think it’s awesome. I’m all about putting our players in places where they realize just how important it is that they understand the power that they have through what they do to impact people in the community.