Brad Brownell explains not fouling Virginia Tech at end of game

Coming off a close win over Virginia Tech, there was some thought that Clemson should have fouled at the end of the game. Head coach Brad Brownell chose not to, though, and it worked out in the end.

After the game, Brownell explained his decision not to have the team foul.

“I kind of take it as it comes,” Brownell said. “We talked about fouling. We have fouled before. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we don’t.”

The logic of fouling when you’re winning by three points late in the game is to take a possession away from your opponent. Yes, they’ll shoot free throws. However, they’ll only get two free throws. More importantly, they won’t be able to take a three-point shot.

“We didn’t end up doing it this time and Chase did a good job contesting and pushing it out pretty deep.”

Brownell then joked that the basketball gods owed Clemson one after what happened to them in the ACC Tournament last season, where the Tigers fell to the Hokies in a close overtime game.

Brad Brownell on Alex Hemenway’s status

Clemson has been without guard Alex Hemenway since before Christmas. However, Brad Brownell still isn’t sure when he’s going to make his way back into the lineup after suffering an injury.

“He did a couple of things this week. We hoped it would kind of be a little better than the results from, you know, what he’s doing with the trainers and the doctors and staff. So, we pretty much knew right away that he’s not gonna play against Virginia Tech. I would say he’s probably unlikely for Pitt and beyond that I still don’t know,” Brownell said.

“Obviously, these guys, they do things to test it, right, and if it goes well you go to the next stage and if it doesn’t you stay where you’re at. He didn’t really move to the next stage.”