Tag: Chase Hunter

Clemson lands three-star 2022 point guard

Clemson men’s basketball added a fourth, highly-touted recruit to its 2022 class on Wednesday.

In an offseason with plenty of turnover and unexpected twists, Clemson men’s basketball added a 2022 three-star recruit to its incoming freshman class on Wednesday.

According to Joe Tipton of On3, Dillon Hunter, brother of current Clemson guard Chase Hunter, has committed to Clemson. Out of Wichita, Kansas, Hunter is the No. 127 overall prospect, according to On3 2022 Consensus.

The 6-foot-3 guard chose the Tigers over five other schools, including Baylor, Auburn and Georgia. Dillon Hunter signed a letter of intent to Baylor in November but decommitted on April 18, just two days before the move to the Tigers.

Dillon Hunter’s commitment helps alleviate the hole left behind by former Clemson guards Nick Honor and Al-Amir Dawes, who both entered the transfer portal after last season. The Tigers were thought to have added Princeton transfer guard Jaelin Llewellyn a week ago, but Llewellyn announced his recruitment reopening on Tuesday.

With the addition of Dillon Hunter, Clemson now has four members of its 2022 recruiting class, which includes three-star forward RJ Godfrey and three-star guard Chauncey Gibson.

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Virginia Tech’s buzzer-beater bounces Clemson from ACC Tournament

Clemson bought itself some extra time, but the Tigers’ stay at the ACC Tournament – and perhaps their season – ultimately came to a painful end. Darius Maddox sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the Tigers bowed out of the tournament with a 76-75 …

Clemson bought itself some extra time, but the Tigers’ stay at the ACC Tournament – and perhaps their season – ultimately came to a painful end.

Darius Maddox sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the Tigers bowed out of the tournament with a 76-75 overtime loss to Virginia Tech on Wednesday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. PJ Hall scored 10 of his 16 points after halftime while Chase Hunter added 13 points for the Tigers, who rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half to give themselves a chance to extend their longest winning streak of the season.

The Tigers had won five straight before Wednesday’s loss, a game Clemson led 75-73 with 7.6 seconds left in extra time after ending regulation on an 18-7 run to force it. Hall and Al-Amir made 3 of 6 free throws in the final 1:19 of overtime to leave Clemson with a two-point lead before Maddox dribbled up the floor and sank the winning 3 over Dawes from the wing as the final seconds ticked away to put Tech (20-12) into Thursday’s quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Notre Dame.

Clemson (17-16) now sits one game above .500 and will wait to see if it gets an invite to the National Invitation Tournament.

This story will be updated.

Photo courtesy of the USA Today Sports Network

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Hall exits early with injury in Clemson’s sixth straight loss

Clemson’s longest losing streak in five years on the hardwood continued Saturday, but that wasn’t the biggest story to develop for the Tigers inside the KFC Yum! Center. Sophomore big PJ Hall exited the game with a left foot injury less than two …

Clemson’s longest losing streak in five years on the hardwood continued Saturday, but that wasn’t the biggest story to develop for the Tigers inside the KFC Yum! Center.

Sophomore big PJ Hall exited the game with a left foot injury less than two minutes into Clemson’s game at Louisville. The Tigers used a game-high 18 points from Al-Amir Dawes to stay close, but without their leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, they couldn’t avoid their sixth straight loss in a 70-61 setback.

Hall was averaging 16 points and six boards going into Saturday’s game despite dealing with inflammation in that left foot for much of the season. The 6-foot-10, 240-pounder’s practice time has been limited during the latter part of the season in an effort to get him feeling as good as possible heading into game days.

But Hall played just 1 minutes, 7 seconds Saturday before appearing to aggravate the injury. Naz Bohannon subbed in for him, and Hall went to the locker room for evaluation. He never returned.

Still, Clemson (12-15, 4-12 ACC) rallied from a nine-point deficit early in the second half to tie the game at 45 on a basket from Bohannon with 10:35 left. The Tigers took a 53-52 lead a few minutes later on a 3-pointer from Dawes, who paced Clemson’s 43% shooting performance by going 6 of 11 from 3-point range. His fifth trey cut Louisville’s lead to one a couple of minutes later, but the Cardinals scored the next five points to spark a 13-5 run to end the game.

Bohannon scored 11 points in a season-high 34 minutes to help Clemson offset Louisville’s advantage on interior without Hall. The Tigers only finished minus-3 in rebounding (33-36) and minus-2 in points in the paint (32-34), but Chase Hunter (10 points) was the only other Clemson player to score in double figures.

Pressed into more playing time, freshman center Ben Middlebrooks had four points and two rebounds in only 14 minutes after getting into foul trouble. Noah Locke had a team-high 15 points for Louisville (12-14, 6-10), which shot nearly 46% from the field to snap its seven-game losing streak.

As for Clemson, it’s going through its most prolonged skid since also losing six straight conference games during the 2016-17 season. The Tigers will again try to end it Wednesday at home against Wake Forest.

This story will be updated.

Perimeter shooting suddenly a ‘problematic’ trend for Clemson

PJ Hall did all he could to try to help Clemson stop the bleeding. The Tigers’ sophomore big, who has a strong case as the ACC’s most improved player this season, poured in more points than he ever has in his first two seasons in the men’s …

PJ Hall did all he could to try to help Clemson stop the bleeding.

The Tigers’ sophomore big, who has a strong case as the ACC’s most improved player this season, poured in more points than he ever has in his first two seasons in the men’s basketball program. Despite foot inflammation he’s dealt with for much of the season and being at the top of every opponent’s scouting report at this point, Hall still scored a career-high 28 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the floor and 12 of 13 shooting from the free-throw line Tuesday at Florida State.

“Obviously his efficiency in the offense (Tuesday) was fantastic,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said of Hall, who’s averaging 21.2 points over the last five games. “I’m super proud of him. The kid is in a (walking) boot 90% of every day. He’s walking to games in boots. He’s giving us everything he has, and (Tuesday) he was special in terms of finishing plays.”

But, for multiple reasons, it was all for naught in an 81-80 loss to the Seminoles, which ran Clemson’s longest losing streak in five years to five games.

One was FSU guard RayQuan Evans, who scored 20.5 more points than his season average to match Hall’s 28 on a night when the Seminoles shot nearly 44% from the field and 42% from 3-point range (8 of 19). Throw in 17 points from forward Cam’Ron Fletcher, who came in averaging just 5.9 on the season, and it helped FSU overcome the absence of four of its top six scorers because of injuries.

Hall also didn’t get much help offensively from the backcourt, which has become a trend during Clemson’s skid. Junior guard Al-Amir Dawes bounced back from an 0-for-6 shooting performance against Notre Dame to score 18 points Tuesday, but the Tigers’ guards combined to make just 24.4% of their shots, which included a 23% clip from 3-point range.

Nick Honor and Chase Hunter combined to go 1 of 13 from the field. David Collins, back after his one-game suspension, shot 2 of 3 but missed his lone 3-point attempt.

“They’re not playing quite as well as I’d like or probably they’d like,” Brownell said. “There’s great effort, I thought. But we’re not making enough shots from the perimeter. And it’s problematic for us.”

Dawes, who shot 4 of 10 from beyond the arc, accounted for all but two of Clemson’s buckets from deep. In fact, Dawes is the only guard that’s made more than two 3-point shots in a game during the Tigers’ losing streak.

It’s uncharacteristic of Clemson, which still ranks fifth in the ACC in 3-point field-goal percentage (36.7). But the Tigers’ perimeter shooting has been a real struggle without stretch forward Hunter Tyson, who was shooting nearly 39% from 3 before breaking his clavicle in Clemson’s most recent win back on Feb. 2.

Clemson is shooting just 28.3% from 3-point range during its losing streak. The Tigers have gone three straight games with six made 3s or fewer. They haven’t made more than eight since sinking 11 3s against Duke on Jan. 25, which was seven games ago.

Brownell admitted there have been “a few bad ones.” But, for the most part, he said getting quality looks from deep hasn’t been the issue.

“The last two games (against Notre Dame and Duke), we have five and six turnovers, and we only score in the low 60s because we don’t make enough shots,” Brownell said. “It’s hard. It’s not like we’re not executing things. That’s the frustrating part. … When we go back and analyze it, we’re getting the ball to places where we like, and we’re just not making enough shots to be consistent to win.”

Clemson’s final possession against FSU was a prime example. After Evans converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Seminoles the lead with 14.4 seconds left, Brownell called a timeout with 4 ticks remaining once Clemson got the ball past halfcourt to draw up one last play. 

Hunter inbounded the ball to Hall near the wing. As Hall tried to drive toward the basket, three defenders converged on him, leaving Alex Hemenway alone near the corner. Hall found him for a clean look at the buzzer, but Hemenway’s shot bounced off the front of the rim, capping a 2-of-8 shooting night from deep for a 39.5% 3-point shooter.

“We had obviously our best shooter coming open,” Brownell said. “Alex got a wide-open shot. It’s as good a shot as you’re going to get under the circumstances. He makes it a lot, and unfortunately it was short and didn’t go.”

Clemson’s next opportunity to end its late-season slide will come Saturday at Louisville. More consistent complementary play from the backcourt would go a long way in helping the Tigers’ chances.

“We have to do better,” Brownell said.

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Clemson knocks off Florida State

The last time Clemson’s men’s basketball team went on an extended break, the Tigers lost their first game back and went on to lose three of four after that. How this return to play pans out over the next couple of weeks remains to be seen, but it’s …

The last time Clemson’s men’s basketball team went on an extended break, the Tigers lost their first game back and went on to lose three of four after that.

How this return to play pans out over the next couple of weeks remains to be seen, but it’s already off to a better start.

Clemson got 15 points from PJ Hall and 12 apiece from Nick Honor and Chase Hunter, and the Tigers held off Florida State for a 75-69 win Wednesday at Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson, playing for the first time since its narrow loss at Duke eight days earlier, also got 11 points from Naz Bohannon to notch its fourth Quadrant 2 victory.

It’s the second time since late December that Clemson (12-9, 4-6 ACC) has returned from a pause lasting more than a week. The first time, which happened after the Tigers’ Dec. 29 home game against Duke was postponed (COVID-19 protocols), Clemson suffered a 17-point loss in a rematch against a Virginia team it hadn’t beaten on the road 13 days earlier.

Even without senior forward Hunter Tyson, who left late in the first half with an upper body injury and didn’t return, Clemson didn’t show as much rust this time around, shooting 52% from the field to lead FSU wire to wire. That included a handful of double-digit cushions, though the Tigers didn’t make it easy on themselves.

Clemson led 57-46 with 14:27, but FSU’s size and length was a problem at times for the Tigers, who committed 14 turnovers leading to 14 points that helped the Seminoles (14-8, 6-5) chip away. Clemson saw its lead dwindle to 69-67 with 2:25 left after a free throw from Caleb Mills, who led FSU with 16 points.

But FSU didn’t get any closer thanks in large part to Hall, who knocked down four consecutive free throws and blocked a shot in the final 2 minutes. The Tigers also coaxed a turnover with a five-second call on one of FSU’s final possessions, holding the Seminoles without a bucket for the final 3:14.

RayQuan Evans added 11 points for the Seminoles, who played without their third-third leading scorer, Malik Osborne (injury).

Clemson led 45-36 at the half after getting off to a hot shooting start. The Tigers sank 61% of its shots from the field, including six straight to create some separation at the end of the half.

Honor’s jumper just before the buzzer capped Clemson’s late first-half surge after FSU tied the game at 30 with 4:15 left before the break. Honor had 10 first-half points while Bohannon added nine off the bench to help the Tigers keep their distance despite Hall playing just eight minutes in the first half after picking up two early fouls.

Part of the reason FSU was able to keep the deficit at single digits in the opening 20 minutes was its defense. The Seminoles forced nine of their x turnovers in the first half, scoring 10 points off of those.

But Clemson went the final 4:17 without coughing up a possession and ended the half on a 15-6 spurt.

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Can Clemson play its way back on the NCAA Tournament bubble?

Clemson’s men’s basketball team has played in two of the last three NCAA Tournaments, but the Tigers face an uphill climb just to get back in the conversation for a berth in this year’s Big Dance. Clemson missed out on a prime opportunity earlier in …

Clemson’s men’s basketball team has played in two of the last three NCAA Tournaments, but the Tigers face an uphill climb just to get back in the conversation for a berth in this year’s Big Dance.

Clemson missed out on a prime opportunity earlier in the week when the Tigers fell to No. 9 Duke in the final minute inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. Clemson had a chance to notch its first Quadrant 1 victory of the season. Instead, the two-point loss was the Tigers’ fourth setback in five games, dropping them to 11-9 overall and 3-6 in ACC play.

The Tigers, who have the weekend off, now sit at No. 75 in the NET rankings with just a combined 2-6 record in the first two quadrants. But if there’s good news in this scenario for the Tigers, it’s that they still have time.

Selection Sunday is six weeks away, and Clemson still has half of its league schedule left to play before the ACC Tournament. The Tigers will return to action Wednesday against Florida State at Littlejohn Coliseum, which will be the 10th game of their 20-game conference slate.

Is it possible for Clemson to play its way back onto the bubble? Maybe.

Clemson already has more regular-season losses than it did in 2021 and 2018 when the Tigers received at-large berths. The last time they had double-digit losses in the regular season during a non-COVID-impacted season (2018-19), the Tigers were relegated to the National Invitation Tournament.

So having nine losses before February is far from ideal, but there have been plenty of double-digit loss teams over the years selected to participate in the tournament. The most losses an at-large team has ever had is 15, which recently happened in three straight NCAA Tournaments. Florida was the last to do it in 2019.

All bubble teams are there in the first place because they’ve lost a bunch of games. The separating factor for the teams that got in were who they beat, which is why the Tigers’ record against the stiffest competition on their schedule (the first two quadrants) is key.

Clemson has more opportunities for those quality wins in the back half of its league slate, though not as many as it’s used to having amid a down year in the ACC. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had just five ACC teams making the tournament in his latest bracket projections released Friday, and one of them, North Carolina, was among his last four teams into the 68-team field.

Still, Clemson has some chances to boost its postseason resume the rest of the way starting with the first of two games against Florida State, which, with a NET of 70, will be a shot at a Quad 2 victory. The Tigers also have other Quad 2 opportunities remaining against North Carolina, Notre Dame, Louisville, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech.

The biggest boost to Clemson’s resume would be Quad 1 victories. The Tigers have two of those coveted opportunities left – a rematch at home with Duke on Feb. 10 and a return trip to Florida State on Feb. 15. And if Wake Forest, currently 35th in the NET, could move inside the top 30 before Clemson hosts the Demon Deacons on Feb. 23, that would be a third crack at Quad 1 victory.

Not only does Clemson likely need to get at least a couple of those, it would also behoove the Tigers to avoid another bad loss in the last two quadrants. The Tigers still have to make a return trip to Boston College on Feb. 26 after falling to the Eagles earlier this month, their lone Quad 4 loss to this point. Clemson also has to play Georgia Tech twice, which presents a couple of potential Quad 3 landmines.

Clemson has also played better the last couple of times out.

Before falling to Duke in the final seconds, the Tigers routed Pittsburgh at home for a 27-point win. That was the first game Clemson coach Brad Brownell made sophomore guard Chase Hunter a regular starter. Hunter has given the backcourt a major boost since, combining for 25 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists with just one turnover in those two games.

“We’ve got some time, so we need to heal our wounds, make sure we keep this momentum, stay connected and be ready to compete down the stretch,” Brownell said.

Of course, if Clemson runs the table at the ACC Tournament next month, then the Tigers would automatically qualify for the NCAA Tournament and all of this becomes a moot point. Since the conference tournament began in 1954, though, Clemson has never won it.

If the tournament started today, Clemson would be the No. 10 seed. If the Tigers want to give themselves a more realistic path to the NCAAs than having to win five games in five days in New York, they need to start stacking up wins. If they do that, the right ones will come along.

Otherwise, Clemson will have to wait at least one more year to break out its dancing shoes again.

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Clemson pushes No. 9 Duke to the brink, falls late

DURHAM, N.C. – As hard as Clemson’s men’s basketball team fought to wake up from it, the Tigers’ nightmare at Cameron Indoor Stadium continues. Clemson pushed No. 9 Duke to the brink Tuesday but ultimately lost out on what would’ve been its most …

DURHAM, N.C. – As hard as Clemson’s men’s basketball team fought to wake up from it, the Tigers’ nightmare at Cameron Indoor Stadium continues.

Clemson pushed No. 9 Duke to the brink Tuesday but ultimately lost out on what would’ve been its most significant win of the season with a 71-69 setback to the Blue Devils. PJ Hall led the Tigers (11-9, 3-6 ACC) with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Hunter Tyson scored 13 points, and Chase Hunter added 12 points in his second game in the starting lineup for the Tigers, who got almost everything they needed to notch their first win at Cameron Indoor Stadium since the mid-1990s.

Clemson got off 19 more shots (71 to Duke’s 52), knocked down 11 of its 26 3-pointers and even neutralized Duke’s size advantage on the interior by outrebounding the Blue Devils by eight (39-31) and finishing plus-6 in paint points (28-22). But the Blue Devils shot 50% from deep and better than 48% overall to ultimately keep Clemson from notching that elusive win in Duke’s home building, a place the Tigers haven’t won since the 1994-95 season.

Star freshman Paolo Banchero had 14 of his 19 points in the second half for Duke, including the final couple of buckets after Clemson chipped away at a seven-point deficit with 9 minutes, 25 seconds left. 

The teams traded buckets down the stretch until Joey Baker’s runner in the lane put Duke up 67-65 with 2:15 left. Banchero then gave the Blue Devils a two-possession lead with a baseline jumper. After Tyson got free for an outlet pass and a dunk to get Clemson back within a possession, Duke again got the ball back to its 6-10 freshman in isolation along the baseline.

Banchero again finished over a defender to push the Blue Devils’ lead to 71-67 with 38.9 seconds left. David Collins eventually scored the Tigers’ final basket on a putback with 1.7 ticks left, but it was too little, too late for Clemson, which shot 41% from the field and forced the Blue Devils into 12 turnovers, though only three of those came after halftime.

Clemson also shot just one free throw to Duke’s 13. The Blue Devils, who also got 13 points from Wendell Moore Jr. and 11 from Baker, made 11 of those freebies.

Hall shot 6 of 21 from the field with seven of those attempts coming from 3-point range. He made two of those, including one in the waning seconds of the first half to send the teams to the break knotted at 36.

It was a theme for the Tigers early. Clemson struggled to score near the basket against the Blue Devils’ size, but the Tigers shot 50% from deep (6 of 12) in the opening 20 minutes. Clemson also turned Duke over nine times in the opening half, converting those into 12 points.

The Tigers also benefited from two quick fouls picked up by Banchero, who played just nine of the first 20 minutes. A baseline dunk by Tyson followed by a 3 from Al-Amir Dawes gave the Tigers their largest lead of the half at 31-26. Duke answered with a quick 6-0 spurt capped by Wendell Moore’s steal and flush, forcing Brad Brownell to use a timeout to halt the Blue Devils’ momentum.

Hall had nine first-half points, including a putback slam that put Clemson back on top on its next offensive sequence. His tying 3 with 10 seconds left in the half helped the Tigers offset a 46% shooting clip for Duke in the opening 20 minutes, including the Blue Devils knocking down six of their first 10 3s.

This story will be updated.

Latest lineup change pays off for Clemson hoops

Brad Brownell’s recent insistence that everything is up for discussion to try to get Clemson’s men’s basketball team out of the most prolonged funk it’s been in this season led to another change to the Tigers’ starting five. This one actually …

Brad Brownell’s recent insistence that everything is up for discussion to try to get Clemson’s men’s basketball team out of the most prolonged funk it’s been in this season led to another change to the Tigers’ starting five.

This one actually yielded some positive results.

Clemson took a three-game losing streak into Saturday’s home game against Pittsburgh, but it was after the first of those setbacks at Notre Dame on Jan. 12 that Brownell replaced point guard Nick Honor with Alex Hemenway in the starting lineup. The reason, Brownell said, was to get a little more size in a backcourt that’s on the smaller side when the 5-foot-10 Honor and fellow guard Al-Amir Dawes, at 6-2, are on the court together.

Hemenway made the backcourt a little bigger, but there wasn’t much production from the 6-4 guard against Boston College and Syracuse. Hemenway had just six points on 2 of 8 shooting in those losses and finished with more fouls (5) than rebounds and assists combined (4).

So Brownell made another move against Pitt, inserting Chase Hunter in Hemenway’s place. Clemson (11-8, 3-5 ACC) got a game-high 19 points from Dawes, 16 points from PJ Hall and 10 points and seven rebounds from fellow guard David Collins, but Hunter also provided spark in just his second start of the season to help Clemson snap its longest streak of the season in convincing fashion.

Hunter said he found out Thursday from Brownell that he’d be starting.

“Really, I just wanted to go out with the same mindset of the things I was doing before with the past games,” Hunter said. “I didn’t want to do anything differently. Just go out there and play hard.”

The Tigers shot nearly 50% from the floor and the 3-point line to post their second-largest margin of victory this season, and Hunter was a key cog in that. Making his first start since Clemson’s game against St. Bonaventure in the Charleston Classic back in November, Hunter made four of his five shots and went 4 of 4 from three-throw line to finish with 13 points. He also pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists in 30 turnover-free minutes, his most extended playing time of the season.

It was a continuation of Hunter’s strong play over the last couple of weeks. The junior guard was shooting nearly 58% over the previous four games (11 of 19), including an 11-point effort on 4 of shooting in Clemson’s midweek loss at Syracuse.

“Just believing in myself,” Hunter said. “My coaches have been believing in me. They’ve been telling me to keep shooting, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”

Brownell has said in the past he likes having a scoring option like Hunter coming off the bench, but the Tigers’ coach said Hunter deserved to start Saturday. It was only the 10th time in his three seasons at Clemson that he was part of the starting lineup.

“Couldn’t be more proud of him the way he’s played not just tonight, but the way he’s hung in there in his three years here,” Brownell said. “Highly recruited kid that started the first game of his career and then got hurt.

“Something that you’re passionate about, you just don’t give in. And he hasn’t done that. He’s just continued to work and be coachable. I’m just really happy that he’s been playing better the last month.”

Hunter has made a strong case to stay there Tuesday when Clemson hits the road for its biggest test of the season at No. 6 Duke.

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‘Everything is up for discussion’ as Clemson tries to snap out of sudden funk

After another setback that has his team riding its longest losing streak of the season, Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell isn’t ruling anything out that might help keep the reeling to a minimum. “Everything is up for discussion right …

After another setback that has his team riding its longest losing streak of the season, Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell isn’t ruling anything out that might help keep the reeling to a minimum.

“Everything is up for discussion right now,” Brownell said. “We’re not playing well enough.”

Clemson (10-8, 2-5 ACC) lost for the fourth time in five games late Tuesday night when Syracuse dealt the Tigers a 91-78 blow inside the Carrier Dome. It was Clemson’s third straight loss, a funk that escalated quickly.

This time a week ago, the Tigers were coming off their fifth win in six games after knocking off North Carolina State on the road. Since then, Clemson has been beaten by nearly 11 points on average, including that loss to Boston College over the weekend that the Tigers led by 23 at one point.

Syracuse handed Clemson its second-largest margin of defeat this season despite the Tigers getting a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double from PJ Hall, 18 points from David Collins and 11 points off the bench from Chase Hunter. The primary issue for Clemson during its skid has been getting stops.

Clemson has allowed at least 70 points in every game of its losing streak while Notre Dame, Boston College and Syracuse each shot better than 45% from the field. The Orange made those numbers look pedestrian. Syracuse, which got 48 combined points from guards Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard III, sank 53.4% of its shots en route to its highest point total against an ACC foe this season.

Brownell said the primary issue is a lack of size and physicality from his team on the defensive end of the floor, allowing opposing players to frequently get their shots off from wherever they’re trying to get on the floor. It’s a deficiency that Brownell said may have to be addressed, at least in part, off the court.

“We’re physically a little weak,” Brownell said. “We’re physically smaller and weaker, and some of that is a product of recruiting. We’ve got to think about that. Now obviously what you get on the other hand is you get some skill. You get guys that can shoot. You get guys that can pass. And that’s why offensively we’ve got a bunch of guys that shoot a high percentage from 3.

“We scored 78 (Tuesday), but we miss Aamir Simms’ defense drastically. Just his physicality, smarts, toughness. And some other guys, too. We just had bigger, stronger dudes in some spots. And then we’re not going getting some other guys that played well last year, we’re not playing as well defensively right now. I’ve got to coach that better.”

Brownell has recently made a change with the personnel on this year’s team. Nick Honor and Al-Amir Dawes started together for the first half of the season in Clemson’s backcourt, but junior guard Alex Hemenway, at 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, replaced the 5-10 Honor in the starting lineup two games ago in an effort to get more size on the perimeter.

“Guys shoot over top of us some,” Brownell said. “That’s not lack of effort. That’s just a lack of some strength and size.”

But Hemenway hasn’t done much in that starting role, combining for just six points on 2 of 9 shooting in the last two games. Foul trouble limited him to just 13 minutes against Syracuse while Honor had eight points, five assists and just one turnover in 26 minutes off the bench.

Brownell didn’t rule out the possibility of more personnel changes when Clemson hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday.

“(Hemenway) is trying hard, but the results aren’t there,” Brownell said. “Whether we stick with it or not, I don’t know. We could move Chase into the starting lineup. Chase has played better, but sometimes it’s nice to have Chase off the bench because he could play the 2 (shooting guard) or play the 3 (wing).”

Brownell said he’s not worried about losing his team during this rough patch, adding the Tigers had “two really good practices” in preparation for Tuesday’s game. But Clemson could use the pick-me-up of that translating over to the game.

And soon.

“Our team is wounded. We’re disappointed,” Brownell said. “Obviously the Boston College loss hurt. We wanted to play well (Tuesday) and get a win, and we didn’t get a win. It’s hard.”

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Clemson exorcises recent demons with latest road win

Raleigh, North Carolina hasn’t been a historically nice place for Clemson’s men’s basketball team to visit. Some of its recent trips to PNC Arena have been particularly cruel. But Saturday was a different story. The Tigers topped N.C. State in their …

Raleigh, North Carolina hasn’t been a historically nice place for Clemson’s men’s basketball team to visit. Some of its recent trips to PNC Arena have been particularly cruel.

But Saturday was a different story.

The Tigers topped N.C. State in their latest try inside the Wolfpack’s home arena, snapping a four-game losing streak in Raleigh. Counting the ACC Tournament, Clemson (10-5, 2-2 ACC) had dropped five of its last six matchups with N.C. State away from home dating back to the 2015-16 season before its win this weekend.

“It’s hard to win games,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “You’re going to play well, and it’s not going to always work out.”

None of Clemson’s last four losses at PNC Arena had come by more than six points, and a couple were downright agonizing for the the Tigers and their fans.

In 2019, Clemson led the Wolfpack in their own building by six points with just 24 seconds left, but N.C. State scored the final eight points to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. A year earlier, it was the Tigers who mounted a rally down five with 25 ticks left. Gabe DeVoe was fouled on a 3-pointer with 1 second left in a three-point game, but he missed the third and final free throw as N.C. State escaped.

Saturday’s game was just as tightly contested. This time, Clemson prevailed.

PJ Hall paced the Tigers with 20 points, Al-Amir Dawes scored 16, and Nick Honor and Chase Hunter combined for 15 crucial points to help Clemson overcome a game-high 27 points from N.C. State’s Dereon Seabron and 16 turnovers of its own.

Hunter played 14 minutes — 11 in the second half — with David Collins in foul trouble and went 3-for-3 from the field, including a jumper to cap a 7-0 run that gave the Tigers their largest lead at 62-53 with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left. His seven points were the second-most he’s scored in a game this season.

“Not just a couple of buckets that he made, but they denied our point guard some and made other guys initiate offense. And Chase can do that,” Brownell said. “He can handle the ball. He can make some decisions. He’s kind of a third point guard for us, and that helps us. Thought he did some really good things in the game to help us push through.”

N.C. State didn’t go away, getting as close as four with 10 seconds left. But Clemson sank its final six free throws with four of those coming from Honor.

They iced the Tigers’ fifth win in their last six games and first inside N.C. State’s building since Jan. 28, 2015. It’s only the 15th time Clemson has won in 66 all-time trips to Raleigh.

“Sometimes this game comes down to those things,” Brownell said. “You’ve just got to step up and make a shot or two. You’ve got to make a couple of free throws to finish the game.

“Execution-wise, we’re getting better.”

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