Skip to main content

Brad Brownell responds to flagrant foul on Chase Hunter

Matt Connollyby:Matt Connolly01/09/25

MattConnollyOn3

Chase Hunter
Clemson guard Chase Hunter. (Ryan Hunt/Getty Images)

Clemson star Chase Hunter was called for a flagrant foul late in the first half of Tuesday’s loss to Louisville. Cardinals guard Chucky Hepburn went up for a dunk on a breakaway, but Hunter raced back to contest the shot.

Hunter was originally called for a personal foul, although it looked like he got a lot of ball on the block. Officials went back and reviewed the play and opted to upgrade the foul to a flagrant 1.

Clemson head coach Brad Brownell was asked about the play and the call on Chase Hunter after the game.

“I haven’t seen it enough to know. Obviously he blocked it up top and I guess on his follow through he caught him on the head,” Brad Brownell said. “Obviously I don’t want anybody to get hurt, but I also think there’s a lot of basketball plays that are going on in these games now where we had a flagrant against Wake [Forest] that went in our favor that, I don’t know.

“Any time somebody gets hit in the head now, or face at all, in any kind of basketball play, it becomes an automatic flagrant.”

As Brownell said, he is all for player safety, but he also doesn’t love the amount of flagrant fouls that are being called this season. He felt like the flagrant on Chase Hunter was unfair.

“I guess we’re legislating the safety into the game. We’re going to treat everybody like a quarterback,” Brownell said. “Obviously I don’t want him to get hurt, but I do think Chase blocked the shot. It wasn’t like he was trying to take the kid out.”

Louisville ended up going into halftime with a 42-35 lead and went on to win 74-64. While Brownell didn’t necessarily agree with the call on Chase Hunter, he doesn’t believe it was the difference in the game.

“It had no bearing on the game,” he said.

As for Hunter, he finished the night with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. The veteran has developed into one of the top guards in the ACC and is averaging 17.2 points per game while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 43.7 percent from 3-point range.

Clemson returns to action on Saturday when the Tigers host Florida State.