"Just end the season": Gamecocks fans left stunned by men's team injury update hours after Ashlyn Watkins' season comes to an end

The South Carolina Gamecocks are not having the best week. Last Saturday, Jan. 4, the men's team lost their first 2024-2025 SEC matchup, 85-50, on the road against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. This loss meant their eight-game winning streak also came to an unfortunate end.

To add to this defeat, it was reported earlier on Tuesday that fifth-year guard Myles Stute will be sidelined indefinitely after being diagnosed with a left lower leg deep vein thrombosis (blood clot). He had a lone point in the Mississippi defeat, coming from a free throw with an assist and a steal in 25 minutes of play.

Even on the women's side, it hasn't fared well. Hours before the Stute news, women's basketball team stalwart Ashlyn Watkins was ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. She suffered the injury during the Dawn Staley-coached squad's Sunday 95-68 beatdown of the Bulldogs.

Since news of what happened to both Watkins and Stute circulated, Gamecocks faithful were seemingly stunned as their teams now try and return to winning ways without the key cogs.

"Just end the season," a South Carolina fan page posted.

"I'm ending it," one user said.

"NOOOO MY KING STUTE GET BETTER," another user exclaimed.

"Nooooo just more bad news!!!!," another captioned.

"Omg, I’m so sorry to hear this. Praying for your recovery!!," one user wrote.

Stute himself took to his X account to repost the news from the Gamecocks social media team, and wrote:

"God’s plan…," he captioned with a prayer emoji.

Through 14 games played this campaign, Stute has averaged 5.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He has started all of the team's fixtures this year as one of the primary ball handlers on the backcourt. On the other hand, Watkins has been a serviceable forward with tallies of 7.2 points and 6.1 rebounds a contest this year.

Now amid a 0-1 start to conference play, the Gamecocks men's team will have to find a way to win without Stute against the surging Alabama Crimson Tide on Wednesday. For the women's, they will look to add to their 2-0 conference run with a hopeful victory on Thursday against the Texas A&M Aggies as Watkins is set to recover.

Who will fill the void left by Myles Stute for the South Carolina Gamecocks?

Myles Stute has been an established starter for the Gamecocks since he transferred to South Carolina from the Vanderbilt Commodores. But, with his season-ending injury, there are now speculations on who coach Lamont Paris will be bringing off the bench.

He could go for third-year guard Zachary Davis, who was the team's lone bright spot in the Bulldogs defeat as he finished with a team-high 22 points and three rebounds off the bench in 24 minutes. The junior is averaging 9.6 markers, 3.8 caroms and 1.4 assists per contest this season.