Everything Clemson MBB head coach Brad Brownell said after loss to South Carolina

Clemson head men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell spoke to the media following the team’s 91-88 overtime loss to South Carolina on Tuesday. Here’s everything he had to say.

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Opening statement

“First of all, congratulations to South Carolina. (It was a) good win. (It was an) incredibly hard-fought, competitive game – swings both ways, certainly. (I) never would’ve though that both teams would score like they did in the second half. Coming in, both teams’ defenses have been very good, and they were in the first half. But, (in) the second half, obviously, neither team could really stop each other. Obviously, the free throw block-out misses misses for us – we had two (that) were critical. (We’re) proud of our guys for fighting. We just, kind of… (it’s) the second game in a row where we dug ourselves a hole and just had to kind of keep battling all the way back. Certainly, the fouling was a problem for us at the end. And, again they, just they made one or two more plays. Collin Murray-Boyles down the stretch was probably the difference.”

On what Brownell told Clemson’s players at halftime

“I didn’t think we had very good pace. I didn’t think we did a lot of what we came into the game trying to do; I thought we made soft cuts. They pressured us a little bit; it bothered us some. We just didn’t have the energy and the competitive fight that we needed it from the start. Why that is, I don’t really know. Obviously, I think we got it throughout the course of the game. Both teams are obviously going to play a little better offensively when the benches are helping, but I don’t really know why that was. Certainly, Chase (Hunter)‘s play was tremendous in the second half for us – and overtime.”

On Ian Schieffelin and Viktor Lakhin fouling out of the game

“Yeah, obviously, Viktor (Lakhin) had one of his poorer games for us all year. He’s coming off a great game and, for whatever reason, didn’t play well tonight. Ian (Schieffelin) fouling out is obviously a problem with Viktor already fouled out. We’ve got Christian (Reeves) in there, who doesn’t play a whole lot for us, still kind of a developmental big. I’m proud of him – I thought he did some good things. And, obviously, they had to battle Colin Murray-Boyles, who was in some foul trouble, so he didn’t play as much as he normally plays. Both teams were jockeying all that all game.”

On what Brownell saw from South Carolina

“They have a good team. They can play big; they can play small. (Nick) Pringle helps them. When they have him and (Murray)-Boyles out there, they’re a big strong physical team and they can. A guy like (Myles) Stute has shot the ball poorly all year, makes five threes against us today. But they can spread you and put pressure on your team because of that. We talked about ‘big lineup versus small lineup’ in the game, but we didn’t have an answer for it.”

On watching Murray-Boyles and Schieffelin face off and lead their respective teams

“I mean, they’re both terrific players. Collin’s a little longer and a little more athletic. Ian just plays with tremendous heart and spirit. And they’re big pieces of both teams because of it. They’re both smart players; they both have high assist numbers this year – unselfish guys. So, certainly, (they’re) terrific guys to coach and watch play.”

On what Clemson needs to tweak after two consecutive overtime losses

“You know, I don’t know. Kind of like I told my team, I need to watch the film to have more – a better understanding of what really happened. I just didn’t think we played very well, and some of that is South Carolina. In the first half, offensively, we were very poor; defensively, we were okay, competitive on some things. We got our win back, confidence back, got a little bit of rhythm in the second half. It was hard because Viktor wasn’t playing very well, for whatever reason – I need to see why that is. And he’s been a piece that’s been a good player for us. So, I probably need to watch more before I can give you a better answer to that.”

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On whether Stute’s performance caught Clemson off guard

“I mean, we label him as a shooter because, basically, almost all his shots are threes. But it’s hard. They’ve got a lot of guys that can shoot. Morris (Ugusuk) has been shooting the lights out lately, if that’s how you pronounce his name. And then, (Jamarii) Thomas is a good player who didn’t shoot it well tonight. Jacobi Wright can make threes. I mean, they can spread you out with four, five guys that can shoot the ball in. And then, obviously, they’ve got good interior players that can score. So, they’re being physical down low like we are, and they can be a tough cover at times.

On Clemson’s recent run of performances

“Yeah, this was a quick turnaround for us. It was that was an emotional loss to Memphis. I mean, it was hard. We’ve had a tough run here with a huge win against Kentucky, and then, we got to go on the road right away and play a conference game and then bounce back. And we had finals – and not an excuse because we had plenty of practices and all that – and we played a very good Memphis team and kind of lost it at the end. That was emotionally draining. Then, you got the rivalry game on the road, so you got no juice from the fans. Actually, it’s just you, and you got to really have spirit and toughness.

“I’m proud of the way we fought to give ourselves chances, but it’s like I told the guys – and I told it after the game against Memphis – it’s not a game you can just play hard. Playing hard isn’t going be enough in this rivalry – you got to execute. And we didn’t execute. We had missed block-outs. We had a couple fouls in the front court that, now, they get to go down and shoot free throws – we’re giving them points. Obviously, we had a couple of other things that were problematic. The longer the game went, we got a little better. But then, we probably died at the end. I thought we we’ve been tired late in both overtimes and haven’t been able to get the stops we need. And I have to do a better job. I needed to do a better job of helping my team figure out how to stop (Murray)-Boyles.”

On where Clemson struggled in the first half

“I think it’s a combination – I think their aggressiveness and just (a) good plan. And they’re a good defensive team. I mean, we told our guys, ‘These guys don’t make many mistakes.’ They’re in front of you. They have a couple of different ball screen coverages that they mix up nicely. And they’re long – they’ve got some length, good on-ball guys. So, they’re just very sound. They don’t turn the ball over. They don’t have bad floor balance, so you’re not going to get a bunch of transition (baskets). We got a few in the second half, which was good. You have to really execute, and we just looked a little disjointed at times. Flow wasn’t good, (and) I don’t know exactly why we weren’t flowing as well as I would have liked in the first half. I thought we took some poor shots.”

On playing this rivalry game while class is not in session

“I’ve dealt with this for 15 years, or whatnot. It’s a hard schedule. I don’t want this to be our opener; I really don’t want it to be our second game. I’d like for both teams to play a little bit so we can figure out who we have, especially in this day and age. And then, all of a sudden, we’re playing conference games the first week, we got the ACC/SEC Challenge. We always have MTE tournaments, they do; we have finals. There’s just so many things that it becomes a really hard, small window to try to figure it out. And we don’t have it all solved now for next year. So, I know, next year, we kind of do these (every) two years. So, when we play here with no students, they’ll come back and play with no students – we do that. But, anyway, it’s not an easy one to solve.”

On Hunter’s ability to bring Clemson back into the game

“He’s a terrific player. I’m super proud of him because he’s grown, as a young man and player, in our program for a long time. And, certainly, he’s showing his talent, and those are big-time plays when he’s probably the only guy on our team that can do all that. To do it when you need it is not easy, especially after he’s coming off a game where he made a big-time shot, and then, had a couple of tough plays at the end. But it shows great resiliency and, obviously, I’m very proud of him.”

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