In the Frank Martin era, only Sindarius Thornwell has logged more minutes as a South Carolina freshman than Justin Minaya.
Minaya started 30 of the 32 games he played in last season. Only four Gamecocks scored more points than him. Only two collected more rebounds. Only one hit more 3s.
“You guys heard me say this with P.J. Dozier,” Martin said in June. “When his freshman year ended, it was like someone took this big sack of bricks off his shoulders. Justin’s kind of the same way.”
It was an active winter for the player CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein has labeled as one of the SEC’s “breakout candidates” for 2018-19.