GLENDALE, Ariz. -- After South Carolina's first trip to the Final Four ended with a 77-73 loss to Gonzaga in the national semifinals, America's most intense coach needed a moment to compose himself before reflecting on his team's season.
"There's something powerful when you impact others," Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said with tears in his eyes Saturday night. "And what these kids have done is pretty special. When you get people to travel across the country by the masses because they believe in what you do, it's powerful stuff. And they've impacted our community in an unbelievable way, which is worth so much more than the score of a game.
"It's what it's all about. These kids are great role models. There's a lot of young kids that want to be the next Sindarius Thornwell, Justin McKie, and I don't get to coach them anymore, but they're part of my life forever."
Entering the tournament as a No. 7 seed, South Carolina (26-11) made its surprising march to the Final Four by ousting the likes of Marquette, Duke, Baylor and Florida.
Against Gonzaga, the Gamecocks trailed at the half for the fourth time in this tournament. They were down by as many as 14 in the second half, but responded with 14 straight points to grab a 67-65 lead with about seven minutes to play.
Although their furious rally ultimately came up short, Martin said he was proud of the way his team fought back.
"If you want to be good as a unit, and you need help to get off your back when you're on your back, then you better be a good teammate," he said. "And that's what this team did tonight. That's what they've done their whole careers. That's what they've done the whole year, is we've gotten put on our backs a couple of times. But we don't lay there. We figure out a way to get off our backs and get back up and fight to the end.
"And that's why I'm so proud of these guys and what they've built and how hard they fought to get a lot of people to smile, a lot of people to care. When you get people to smile and care, you're obviously doing something right, and that's what these kids have done."
Martin's Gamecocks were still within one possession of Gonzaga in the closing seconds, but they were thwarted by some clever defensive strategy by the Bulldogs.
Down by three with 12 seconds left, the Gamecocks had a chance to tie but never got a 3-pointer off in nine seconds before Gonzaga was able to foul. The play was set for Thornwell to take a 3 from up top or drive quickly. Instead, Thornwell paused just long enough for Gonzaga to safely foul him without giving up three shots.
"I figured there was enough time where they were not going to foul right away to prevent us from shooting a 3," Martin said. "But when you've got fifth-year seniors across the board, like they do, they don't make mistakes."
Thornwell, the SEC player of the year and leading scorer in the tournament coming into the Final Four (25.8 points per game), was able to play Saturday despite being held out of practice Thursday while dealing with flu-like symptoms.
While he was back with the team the next day, Gonzaga held him in check Saturday night; he scored 15 points on 4-of-12 shooting. Afterward, Thornwell said he felt some fatigue in the first half, but then -- as if catching himself -- he added: "But that's still not an excuse for anything. I was fine. I was fine the whole game."
A senior, Thornwell wasn't able to complete South Carolina's surprising tournament run, but he leaves Gamecocks basketball better than he found it and with the greatest postseason performance in school history.
"It's been great," Thornwell said. "I thank everybody for the support coming in. We never thought we'd be here, but we worked every day. We never gave up, us seniors that came in, in the situation we were in, we never gave up."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.