With less than two weeks until Clemson men’s basketball unofficially starts the 2022-23 season, head coach Brad Brownell provided an update on where star big PJ Hall is with his continued recovery.
Hall has undergone a pair of surgeries since the end of last season, though it’s not the foot injury he dealt with for much of last season that’s got him out of action. After having an operation to repair his fractured foot in the spring, Hall dislocated his kneecap during a summer practice in July, which required another operation.
Now three months removed from that surgery, Hall still hasn’t been cleared for full contact. Brownell initially said following Hall’s latest injury that he hoped to get Hall back at some point in November.
Brownell told The Clemson Insider on Monday that timetable hasn’t changed.
“It’s still about the same,” Brownell said. “He’s still doing well, but we haven’t had him in any full-contact stuff. So it’ll be another couple of weeks before we really know what we’ve got and how he’s doing. But he’s progressing nicely.”
Exactly how soon Hall will return to the court, though, is unclear. He won’t play in Clemson’s exhibition against Benedict College on Nov. 2 and will likely miss the Nov. 7 opener against The Citadel. Beyond that, Brownell said he didn’t know how many games the Tigers might be without their leading scorer from a season ago.
“Not going to speculate,” Brownell said.
Hall averaged 15.5 points and 5.7 rebounds as part of a breakout sophomore campaign. The 6-foot-10, 240-pounder shot 48.9% from the field and 79.1% from the free-throw line in his first season as a full-time starter, earning all-ACC honorable mention honors.
In Hall’s absence, sophomores Ben Middlebrooks and Ian Schieffelin have been practicing at the center position. They’ve gotten the bulk of the reps there since the spring, so Brownell said getting Hall reacclimated will be the biggest challenge once he’s back in action.
“We really haven’t done much with that because there hasn’t really been any need to,” Brownell said. “The more pressing need is to make sure the guys that can play are ready to play.”
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