With the constant Gamecocks struggles, the team should give Mike Green a second look for some minutes.

With the Gamecocks disappointing play, the team should look within the roster to solve some of their biggest struggles on the court. Sophomore Mike Green may be a major piece of the Gamecocks improvements.

According to MaxPreps, Mike Green averaged 26 points per game for Christian Academy in Myrtle Beach, SC. Green also notched four assists, almost five boards, and three steals per contest. Green was a stud in high school and picking him up was a good snag for the Gamecocks.

South Carolina has a bunch of problems and their guard play is one of them.

AJ Lawson can be streaky but is not subject to the constant South Carolina guard inefficiencies. Lawson averaged 17 points per game while shooting nearly 44 percent from the field, making him the most efficient player on the team by far. The Gamecocks guard problems don’t really apply to Lawson because he is still the team leader and leading scorer on the roster.

Let’s really look at the guard struggles for the Gamecocks.

Jermaine Cousinard has had a very tough sophomore year, where his averages have dropped in both points and field goal percentage. His freshman year, Couisnard shot nearly 40 percent and now he is shooting underneath 30 percent. Cousinard’s biggest issue is his inefficiency within the perimeter, his two-point field percentage dropped by 15 this season. Last season Jermaine “Koozie” Couisnard looked really confident driving against the trees, with quality floaters, where this season he seems to have lost a bit of his confidence. His struggles aren’t helping his confidence on the court, but Koozie is still young and has plenty of time to improve as a shooter from the field.

Trae Hannibal played a lot of isolation ball in high school and since coming to the University hasn’t been very consistent. Hannibal has averaged four points per game both seasons and has yet to really progress as a player. Hannibal averaged 16 points per game and made All-State honors. He was a three-star recruit in high school, praised with a good pace running the floor.

Finally, you have the Seventh Woods problem. Woods is absolutely awful and just wasting minutes for other guards. I won’t really get into it because the above article has already touched on Woods’ lackluster play.

Let’s play Mike Green some.

Mike Green should be given some minutes to play this season, the Gamecocks could improve as a team with Green’s increased minutes. Green is a lights-out three-point shooter, and even in his limited minutes, he was efficient from the perimeter last season. He shot 50 percent from behind the arch and from the field, making his percentages look very impressive.

With an awful Seventh Woods and a struggling Trae Hannibal, Mike Green could join the Gamecocks on the court, and with decent minutes, he could come become a great piece of South Carolina’s offense. Mike Green could bring a lot to the Gamecocks perimeter shooting, where they are lackluster. After the departure of Jair Bolden after last season, the team was stripped of its only true shooter and the organization could lean on Mike Green to fill that role in a smaller capacity. Green with a dozen minutes could make the Gamecocks better from three-point land, and then pull opposing defenses to the perimeter, where Keyshawn Bryant and Wilden Leveque can dominate the paint.

The constant South Carolina Gamecock basketball struggles have made the team underwhelming throughout this season. The Gamecocks were expected to be a great team this season, with many people predicting that the team was going to make a postseason push. With talent and experience returning to the roster, this season was going to be the best Frank Martin season since the Final Four appearance years ago.

Unfortunately, the team has hit a few COVID-19 outbreaks in the locker room and among the coaches, halting practices and games for a month in December. For a team to start and stop, and start and stop, team workouts and practices at the beginning of their season are a necessity for a roster to work through their kinks.

Hopefully, the Gamecocks can get their team’s consistency together and it’s feasible for Mike Green to be apart of their organization’s improvement.