Brad Brownell shares keys to Clemson's defensive success against Virginia Tech

Clemson finds itself in first place in the ACC with a 4-0 record following Wednesday’s 68-65 win over Virginia Tech. The Tigers held the Hokies about 10 points below their season average, and Brad Brownell pointed to a few factors in that success.

Virginia Tech shot just 31.3% from the field in the game, which saw its conference record drop to 0-1. Brownell acknowledged some key players the Hokies were missing, but said defending the paint helped make the difference.

“The first thing is it helps that Hunter Cattoor’s not playing,” Brownell said. “He’s an outstanding player and stretches the defense that way, so it becomes a big body game. [Justyn] Mutts is terrific. He can play all different kinds of ways. He’s playing point guard against Wake Forest some. [Grant] Basile can shoot the heck out of the ball and post it. We obviously recruited Lynn Kidd. We think Lane’s a really good player. It’s just physical. There’s not as much space, there’s big bodies on top of you. You’ve got to play really good one-on-one interior defense. I thought we did that.”

That said, there was one area Brownell wanted to see Clemson play better. He didn’t think the Tigers rebounded well defensively, allowing 12 Virginia Tech offensive boards, and he said that needs to improve going forward.

“I’m anxious to watch the film in terms of defensive rebounding,” Brownell said. “We gave up a few of those I’m disappointed in. Our first initial defense was good. I thought we were set, we were in position. [Darius] Maddox made some really good plays in the first half, but those aren’t easy shots. He’s making tough shots. I just felt like we did a good job of guarding and being in position and contesting as much as we could.”

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,” he said.