Before the Tigers depart to Washington D.C. for the ACC Tournament, head coach Brad Brownell spoke to the media about beginning the postseason, which begins later this week.
The Tigers will not tip off until late on Wednesday night, facing either Boston College or Miami in the second round of the ACC Tournament. The two will face off on Tuesday, only giving Brownell and the squad 24 hours of preparation.
First, the Clemson head coach opened up with the satisfaction of the season so far, where the team is a lock for a NCAA Tournament berth. With a 21-win regular season completed, Brownell is happy with the overall performance of the squad.
“Certainly proud of our team, I think we have had a good year to date,” Brownell said on Monday. “21 wins, and one of three ACC teams that are a lock for the NCAA Tournament. I think that is a terrific accomplishment.”
Brownell also touched on the slow start to ACC play, where the team began in-conference play with a 2-4 start.
“We didn’t play very well and we were kind of battling uphill the rest of the way,” he said. “We couldn’t string anything together.”
The biggest difference from Clemson’s season this year compared to others was the strength of the non-conference scheduling, The team beefed up their out of conference opponents, using wins over Alabama, TCU and Boise State to help shape their strong start to the season. Brownell credited those three teams as being huge influences on the team’s season.
The Clemson head coach also credits the end to the season, where the Tigers won seven of their last ten games to build a record over .500 in the ACC. While the out of conference and in-conference records are very inverse for Clemson this season, Brownell brings up a good point about playing familiar teams.
“I wish we won some more ACC games, and we didn’t do that a couple of nights,” he said. “League play is harder. Everybody knows everybody. Coaches have competed against each other, so it’s challenging.”
Luckily for the Tigers, who have experienced the wear-and-tear of the season affecting the practicing and certain game play of their standout players, Brownell reassures that his roster should be ready and healthy for Wednesday night.
Two of these players are center PJ Hall and forward Ian Schieffelin, who earned themselves some accolades to add to their impressive resumes this season. Hall earned himself an All-ACC First Team spot this season, being only the fourth Tiger to do so with Brownell at the helm. Schieffelin, meanwhile, earned himself the Most Improved Player award this season, coming off of a season recording nine double-doubles as a forward this season.
“PJ and Ian have practiced a little bit more. I anticipate that they will be able to practice today, he elaborated about his two standout players. “ It was hard though. There was a month there where we always had 1-2 guys out.”
While Brownell is no stranger to the ACC Tournament, he knows what his team has to do to not only go far in the conference tournament but in the NCAA Tournament as well, where the team hopes to make a run as a projected No. 5-7 seed in the tournament. The Clemson head coach had a main goal: consistency.
“Just our consistency, which is everybody on every end,” he explained. “We have to limit our defensive errors, and offensively, it does sometimes come down to shot making.”
While the team has seen a younger bench this season, with sophomores R.J. Godfrey, Chauncey Wiggins and Dillon Hunter being the first three guys coming off of the bench. While the three may not light up the scoreboard, Brownell believes that sometimes, that might not be what the team needs if they want to be successful in a game.
“They don’t always have to go into the game and it’s not about scoring,” Brownell said. “It’s about defending, it’s about keeping the offense moving, it’s about doing your job at a high level. It’s helping us in other ways, and I think there are times those guys do some really good things. It might not be that they score very much, but they guard well, they move the ball, they play with great pace, they put pressure on their opponent with great pace.”
The Tigers will open up their postseason with the winner of Miami and Boston College, who play tomorrow night. Clemson will face the winner in the final game of the second round on Wednesday night.
