The college basketball season is quickly approaching, one that has Clemson looking for a much different ending.
The Tigers enter the 13th season of the Brad Brownell era looking to right the ship after suffering their first losing record in ACC play in five years. Clemson finished just one game above .500 overall last season (17-16) and missed out on the NCAA Tournament.
With five newcomers joining six key holdovers from last season’s roster, Clemson will start fresh beginning Nov. 2 when the Tigers host Benedict College in an exhibition. In the following interview with The Clemson Insider this week, Brownell discussed learning lessons from last season, the makeup of this year’s team, his personal expectations for the group and more heading into the 2022-23 campaign.
You’ve got your leading scorer back in PJ Hall, but he’s still recovering from his knee injury for the time being. How does that change things for you with Ben Middlebrooks and Ian Schieffelin working at center in his absence?
Well one of the harder things is going to be the change of getting him back with us because we basically have played without him all spring and summer. Obviously that’s been really good for Ian and Ben because with those two guys, we’re just kind of sharing the minutes. They’re both pretty good players, and they’re both have gotten better and playing with more confidence. Ben’s a little bigger. Ian probably is a little better passer. Both guys compete physically very well. They’re really a nice combination, to be honest with you. They like each other a lot. They go at each other every day. They’ve been going at each other since last spring.
So do you anticipate distributing the minutes evenly at the position between those two once the season starts? Yeah, kind of right now. Obviously it all depends on game action and who’s playing well if somebody’s having a little better night. It’s kind of what we did last year, to be honest with you. I think early in the year, Ian was a little ahead of Ben. But then at certain points, Ben got better. I really didn’t worry about. It was just kind of who played better during the week of practice leading up to it last year, and it’s probably going to be similar this year in terms of productivity.
It’s funny when we scrimmage and do things. One day, Ben looks better. The next day, Ian looks better. The best thing for us is we think they’re both productive players, and they’re both guys that can help us win.
With Ian being a more natural 4 (power forward), how is he taking to the 5 spot?
He played as a high school 5. He’s just a little undersized. He’s 6-foot-8. So he gives up a couple of inches in certain areas, but he’s got the physical toughness and mental toughness to battle and not let it bother him. And then he does have an ability to shoot the ball, space the court, play away (from the basket) much like an Aamir (Simms). So we try to utilize some of that when we’re on the offensive end and make him harder to guard in different places on the floor. But he’s done it by and large most of his time here so far.
But Ben can shoot, too. Both guys can shoot, and they’ve worked really hard on it. They stay after (practice), and they’re two of our hardest workers. Those guys, they spend the reps and they spend the time getting the extra reps and doing the things they need to do. We’re running a lot of our cutting stuff that spaces the floor and opens the basket up and just getting them more comfortable with all those reads and some of the decision making, but they’ve been working on it. So I think they’re both progressing very nicely.
What’s the health status of the rest of the team at this point? Anything you’re worried about there?
Not right now, knock on wood. We’ve had some things. (Guard) Alex (Hemenway) has had a groin injury that’s had him miss a few practices. (Boston College transfer guard) Brevin (Galloway) was sick last week for a couple days and missed a couple practices. But nothing that hopefully affects us as we move into November.
We’re going to need most guys. We need depth. And it’s not just depth but it’s some versatility that comes with it, which I think is important so we can have some options to play different ways. If we need to play a little bigger or play a little smaller or be a little faster, I think that’s something that we’re hopeful that this team is going to have a few more pieces to be able to do a few different things.
With less than two weeks before your exhibition, how many guys would you say you’re comfortable playing?
We’ll play a lot of guys. I think our guys have done a really good job, and we had did have the benefit of having some practices in the summer and playing overseas a couple games. It wasn’t tremendous competition or anything, but it was good to see. And it was good to get some freshman guys some minutes and see how they do. Do they remember under the pressure and the heat of battle, and how do they respond? And I thought pretty well (during fall practices). Brevin Galloway is an older guy. He’ll be out there playing. Obviously we’ve got Alex and (guard) Chase (Hunter) that are experienced players for us. And Hunter Tyson. He’s very experienced. Josh Beadle, he’s just a redshirt freshman for us, but he’s been here. So it’s been good for him. I think he’s gaining confidence every day and getting better. I’m comfortable playing 10 or 11 guys.
So you think you could get up to an 11-man rotation?
Yeah, absolutely.
With most of the prep work done, do you think the team is about where you expected them to be heading into the season?
It’s hard to tell. We’re just kind of getting into the heat of it but probably about where I thought we would be, which is good. I’m very optimistic about our group and our team, and I think we’ll continue to get better because we are younger. But there’s enough older guys and guys understand how we do things that I think that message is carrying through. We have good culture here, so our guys understand what standards that we have set, how you have to work, how you have to practice every day and the expectations that come along with it. If you want to be a guy that gets out on the floor, you’re going to have to meet these expectations. I would say most days, most guys are doing that. There’s a day or two when we’re not playing as hard as we need to play or not executing and making some mental errors that are problematic. But by and large, I think as a group we’ve really come together.
Our guys really like each other. You can sense that. It started on the trip overseas, but you can really see it. And our older guys are very genuine in their willingness to help the younger guys. I think our older guys have confidence that our younger guys can help our team and want those guys to be ready. So from that standpoint, I think we’re doing really well.
What do you feel good about going into the season? And what are some questions you still have about this group?
The questions are just how does it all come together? But I think we have options, so I like that about this team. I do think we can be a little bit bigger at times if we need to be when we’re playing against big, strong physical teams. I think we can put lineups out there that can shoot the ball. I think we can put lineups out there that can take care of the ball and play with some speed. You get PJ back and you’re going to get I think one of the five or six best players in the league when he’s right and healthy. And it may take a while. I think being patient with him and being patient with that is going to be important. It’s not going to be easy, but that’s understanding that he hasn’t worked out much this offseason and so we’ve got to bring him along.
But when you do get him back and he’s playing at a high level, he’s a tremendous anchor. He just provides tremendous stability to your team, and that even adds obviously to our ability to play bigger and do different things. Just his presence on the floor is going to make other guys better because of some of the attention that he’s going to bring.
You mentioned feeling like you’ve got a lineup that can shoot the ball despite losing your top 3-point shooter in Al-Amir Dawes (transferred to Seton Hall). So who are you looking to to help fill that void when it comes to perimeter shooting?
Brevin Galloway is going to have to make some shots certainly. Alex can shoot the ball. Hunter Tyson is going to shoot the ball well. Chase is shooting the ball well and shot the ball well last year, especially later in the year. I think those are the guys that naturally come to mind, but we’ve got some other guys that can that can certainly shoot the ball in and will have opportunities. But I think we’ve got enough at different positions that we should be OK that way.
Where does offense come from without PJ for the time being?
I think we’re just going to have to be a little more creative to help guys a little bit, and I think it’ll can vary a little bit game to game. Chase, Hunter, Brevin and Alex are certainly proven guys that have had consistent double-figure games and all those kinds of things. They’re going to get more. The one thing is you get more shots. The shots have to go to somebody, right? I think sometimes people forget that. You lose a good player, but we are still getting field-goal attempts in other areas.
I think the biggest thing is we continue to take care of the ball. I think this team has done a good job so far in practice. Overseas, we kept our turnovers down. We shared it. Our assist numbers have been high in practice. Our assist numbers were high overseas, so our passing has been good and are willingness to share. And I think that’s going to be really important because some of it’s going to be dictated by how you’re guarded. If somebody’s trying to take out somebody else, I do think other guys can score. Ian and Ben, I think together, if those guys are sharing minutes and you combine their productivity, I think those guys can give us double-double numbers. So I think it’ll be game to game. I think Chase will obviously have more attempts and Hunter will have chances to shoot the ball more. So naturally those guys will get more attempts and should score some more points.
Ben averaged 1.2 points in limited minutes last season. What improvements has he made to make you think he can be a double-figure type of scorer as his role increases?
He’s just starting to relax a little more, and he still has a whole other level that he has to get to. But just seeing other things, seeing the game and slowing down to finish plays. He’s put on a bunch more weight. He’s big and strong. He’s up to at least 240. He moves well. He’s starting to make more perimeter shots. He just is a guy who has just taken the next step as a sophomore to where I think he’s just more and more comfortable.
Whether it’s finishing a play with his back to the basket, making an elbow jumper, making a back-cut pass or a making the right read on a skip or something like that, I think he’s just he’s much more comfortable than he was obviously as a freshman when he at times looked a little nervous out there.
Chase, Josh and true freshman Dillon Hunter have been working at the point. Has there been any separation among them to this point?
Chase is by far the guy we’re probably going to start with at that spot. But having said that, I think both Dillon and Josh have played very well. So they’re both going to get minutes. The beauty of that is it’s easy for Chase to bump over (and play off the ball). And sometimes that’s good because it takes a little pressure off. Chase could very easily start at the point for 30 games. He might start three. I don’t know. We’re just kind of letting it all see where it goes, but he’s played very well at the point. He and his brother (Dillon) go at each other every day. Josh gets in the mix with it, too. Dillon is probably more of a point than a 2 (shooting guard) whereas Josh and Chase are both a little more likely to move over and try to score a little bit more make more plays, so I like that.
(Point guard) is kind of what Dillon does, and that’s perfect for a freshman. There’s one spot and you just learn this one spot. Keep getting better at it. His physicality and his defense are above freshman level. He obviously is more mature physically, and he’s played against higher-level players than the most traditional high-school guys. And you can see that by the way he approaches practice every day and the way goes against his brother and goes against Josh. He’s done a very good job. but all three of those guys could certainly play the point and have throughout our practice.
So would Dillon be first off the bench at the point?
Hard to say. I don’t know. That’s what I like about our team, though, is I could play all three of those guys together. I could play Dillon, Josh and Chase and we would feel fine. Chase would guard the bigger wing and Dillon and Josh would guard the backcourt, and we’ve got three ball handlers out there and guys with speed. That’s what I like about this group is some versatility there.
You’ve mentioned that you feel like this team has the size to match up better on the perimeter with some of the bigger teams you’ll play. So what does your big lineup look like even without PJ?
If we wanted to put our biggest lineup out there, it will probably be Chase, Brevin, Hunter, (freshman forward) RJ (Godfrey) and Ben or Ian. And Hunter’s ability to shoot the ball really helps that because you’ve still got plenty of shooting. But now you’re 6-8, 6-8 and 6-10 or 6-8 across the frontline, and that helps your strength and your rebounding.
RJ’s a big, strong, physical guy now. He and Dillon are the two freshmen that physically don’t look like freshmen. You wouldn’t you wouldn’t walk into practice and look at those two guys and guess that they’re freshmen. You would think that they’re sophomores or juniors. RJ has got a good, live body. He runs easy. He bounces well around the basket area. He can physically put his body on people. Sometimes you have to be reminded that he’s 18 years old because he doesn’t look like he’s 18 years old. He’s very blessed physically, and he’s a terrific young man.
What are your expectations for this team?
I think we have every chance to play in the tournament just like that’s our goal every year is to get to the tournament. This team has that opportunity. We need PJ Hall healthy. We need PJ Hall playing at a high level. There’s no shame in saying that just for the course of the long haul. I was exceptionally proud of our team in some ways last year for hanging in there. PJ was doing all he could. He couldn’t play in a couple games (with a foot injury), and our guys found ways to win a couple games without him. And it was with Ben and Ian. So if PJ’s not in the lineup, we still expect the win.
Guys have got to produce. That’s part of it. But if this team can get PJ back and get him healthy and get him playing like he can play, like he played at the end of last year, then we’ll get better and we’ll have a chance to be playing really good basketball late and playing very meaningful games.
You spoke in the offseason about now feeling like you’ve got all the resources you need here at Clemson to have more consistent success. Is this a program capable of being a perennial tournament team?
Absolutely. I think we can. And I don’t think we’re that far off at all. I don’t think it’s as easy as people think it is, but we’re not that far off. I feel like our recruiting has continued to get better. I think we have a very good culture in place whereby players improve. Our guys compete night in and night out. What happens is, like a lot of years it comes down to some close games. Winning 17 (games) and winning 21 or 22 is a fine line oftentimes, and I’ve got to help finish some games better for our guys. We’ve got to have a guy or two step up and make a couple plays occasionally. Last year’s team, we didn’t get as many defensive stops when we needed them. But I don’t think we’re far off at all. We’re only two years removed from being in the tournament, so it’s not like it’s been that long ago. And I think this year’s team is another team that will have a chance.
Speaking of close games, seven of your conference losses last season came by two possessions or less. Did you learn anything about your coaching from all of those close calls?
I mean, there’s always a play here there when you’re like, man, I wish I would have done this or made this substitution. Maybe had this guy guarding this guy. Would that have changed it? Do we play zone one time and try that? Do you soft press? There’s all kinds of little decisions that are easy in hindsight to look back at and say yes. And a couple of those games, certainly a changing-momentum situation or trying to just give the other team a different look maybe. Because, in hindsight, what we did didn’t work. So we’ve got to figure that part of it out. So yeah, I’ve got to do a little bit better job in that. I’ve got to make sure I try to make the right call to help my guys. And I think just our team understanding that and understanding that we’ve got to finish games better is something this team will continue to work at.
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