Joseph Girard III reflects on his career, special run after joining Clemson

Joseph Girard III traded his Syracuse Orange in for Clemson Orange ahead of the final season of his collegiate basketball career. Transferring to Clemson this offseason after spending the first four years of his career with Syracuse. A decision that clearly paid off as the Tigers pulled off a 72-64 win over Baylor on Sunday to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.

After the game, Girard opened up about his decision to transfer and what truly makes this year’s Clemson team a special one.

“First and foremost, all the credit goes to the coaches and the players that are here, because like you said, I’m a four-year guy at another school,” Girard said. “I played against them four years. Took a bunch of shots. They didn’t have to welcome me with all these open arms like they did.”

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Girard started 123 games during his time at Syracuse and was the Orange’s leading scorer in his final season with the team averaging a career-high 16.4 points per game.

He’s thrived in his new role with a new team, bringing priceless experience and high-level shotmaking to Clemson this season. Averaging 15.3 points per game as the team’s second-leading scorer making 42.9% of his shots from the field and an impressive 41.4% of his shots from three-point range. But it seems like off the court Girard may fit in even better with his newfound teammates.

“These guys have been great. Coach Brownell, I tell the story, when he and Coach Donlon came to my house for an in-home visit they were bragging about the locker room, talking about how great these guys are, how close they are. You hear that everywhere,” Girard explained.

“But I didn’t understand what it meant until I got on my visit at Clemson. I saw it. These guys are a brotherhood. It’s something I wanted to be a part of and what makes it so special and exciting,” Girard said. “And it makes it a lot easier when you have a group of guys like this that open guys with welcome arms and play together and play for each other, it makes these runs that more special.”

Clemson will look to keep its tournament run built on their tightly knit group on Thursday, as they take on Arizona at 7:09 p.m. ET in a Sweet Sixteen matchup airing on CBS.