Brad Brownell shares importance of delivering knockout blows

Clemson had one of its best performances of the season this past weekend on the road against NC State. Brad Brownell‘s team opened up a 25-point lead at the half and held that advantage the rest of the way to a 96-71 victory.

After the game, Brownell not only complimented his team on delivering a knockout blow but also not giving the Wolfpack any hope of a comeback.

“It’s hard on the road,” Brownell said. “On the road is different. I think what was maybe as more impressive was keep it. It’s not getting a lead, it’s keeping a lead. Keeping a lead is is sometimes more challenging, especially on the road in another team’s building. When if they string a couple baskets together, then the place the building is going to be on fire and you got to deal with a lot. I thought our guys did a nice job. We just we handled the presses really well. I thought we had pretty good poise in the half court. I thought we took good shots. We were fortunate we made some. We made some shots that opened things up a little bit and we scored some layups in and around the basket.”

The Tigers shot 59.6% from the field for the entire game as four players scored in double figures. Brevin Galloway led the way with 28 points while PJ Hall added 20 points and Hunter Tyson had a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double.

It was the type of game where everything seemed to go right for the Tigers.

“You have a couple of games a year where things just really go very well for you and you have a couple of games a year sometimes where it’s just my goodness,” Brownell said. “That happened to us a little bit at Louisville, where we had a lot of shots. We’re 4-for-24 from three and we outscore them by 20 in the paint, but we lose. It was just a challenging day in some ways, and I didn’t think we played terrible then. But it’s shooting and today we played great, but some of that is shooting. We’re coming off a day where we shot really well against Syracuse at home. So I’m sure our guys had some confidence.”

Brad Brownell likes the way his team is playing

Clemson is now sporting a 21-8 record and 13-5 mark in ACC play, which has put in a decent spot heading into the final week of the season. Right now, they are one of the first four teams out of the tournament, according to ESPN. But if the team can secure a few more wins, they can very well play their way into the Madness.

“Yeah, again, I do think our team, when we’re playing well, when we’re clicking, we’re allowed to handle. Our guys, we played some really good basketball,” Brad Brownell said. “This was great because it was a big-time road win. Maybe it’s our third quad-one road win, and I think that speaks to being able to play away from home. Sometimes that’s important, right? Like, did they beat anybody? Who can they beat on the road? Well, beating NC State is pretty dang’on good; beating Pitt, pretty good, on the road. So, yes, I do think that. Again, I’m very proud of our guys.”