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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEFebruary 13, 2012Brad BrownellMIKE FINN: We're now joined by Clemson coach Brad Brownell. Coach, a brief opening statement, then we'll go to questions. COACH BROWNELL: Just happy with our guys. We came off a nice win at Wake over the weekend. It was nice to win one after losing several close ones. We know we have our hands full with a very good Virginia team who we played not too long ago, a couple weeks ago, played a reasonably good game against them, but they found a way to win, which is something they've been very good at this year. Should be a good game, looking forward to the challenge. MIKE FINN: Questions for coach. Q. What do you feel you learned about Virginia in the first game? COACH BROWNELL: You learn how good they are. Mike Scott, that was my first time to see Mike Scott in person. He was hurt last year obviously before ACC play. I watched him on film, knew he was a good player. He's so efficient. Seems like he makes every open shot. He's like a pro that way. When you watch the NBA, they don't miss many open shots. He had some open shots in our game, and every one he had, he made. He did the same thing to Wake a couple games ago. That's one thing. The other thing is just how disciplined they are, how well they do what they do. They don't do a lot of different things, but the things they do they do extremely well. Very tough‑minded team. Tony has done a great job with them. Q. Not to oversimplify that game, but if you look at the numbers in large measure did it come down to rebounding? COACH BROWNELL: No, I don't think it was. I remember people asking me after the game. I don't have the stats in front of me. We took care of the ball. We only had four turnovers in the game. We got a lot of reasonably good shots, but we didn't make very many. I shouldn't say that. The first half we did, we played well, had a lead, shot the ball well. But in the second half, we didn't do as well. Certainly some of that is because of Virginia's defense. But the numbers were skewed a little bit based on they out‑rebounded us a bunch, but it was a bunch of offensive rebounds off of our missed shots. They didn't crash the boards or anything of that nature. They got away from us in the second half. They had a couple transition situations where Joe Harris got a couple threes, Mike Scott again played well. We had a little trouble scoring in the second half. Obviously the game came down to where we did have a shot to tie in the last 20 seconds. We just missed it. It was a competitive game. But I think the numbers for rebounding were skewed a little bit. Q. Tanner had a good game. Can you talk about him not only as a player but also his off‑the‑court activities with his non‑profit. COACH BROWNELL: Yeah, phenomenal young man. Really have enjoyed coaching him the last two years. Very bright, hard‑working as you can imagine. Good player. In fact, he's averaging about 10 points, five rebounds, five assists, or five and four. Might be the only guy in the ACC to be doing those kinds of numbers. He's a very well‑rounded player. He probably doesn't do anything that's eye‑popping, but he's a guy that's a glue guy that coaches love to have on their team. At Wake he made a couple shots. He's done that on the road for us. He's a really solid player. Comes to work every day. He's bright. He understands our system, what we're trying to do game planning. Then obviously what he does off the court, you can't speak to how unselfish he is, starting a foundation when he was 12 years old, being involved heavily in it, fundraising. The Tanner Tot's Program for kids that are dealing with cancer is unique. Made a lot of difference in a lot of young people's lives. I think it speaks to his maturity, with all the things he has going on in his life that he would be thinking of somebody else. Q. When you came up to Charlottesville, you did not have Milton Jennings. What has he meant since his return? COACH BROWNELL: He's played well the last couple of games. He's a little longer than the other guys we have in terms of size. He maybe can help defend the interior a little bit better, rebound a little bit better. If he can make his perimeter shot, that really helps our offense out in terms of giving us another shooter on the floor. He shot reasonably well the last couple of games. When he's in a good place, Milt can be a good player for us. Hopefully we'll see some of that in the game tomorrow night. Q. Six ACC losses, five of them are by four points or less, three of them are by two points. What's happening at the end of the game? Is that a function of free‑throw shooting? COACH BROWNELL: It's been some of the free‑throw shooting. We've actually lost four games this year where we've had free throws to tie in the last 15 seconds. Haven't been able to convert. Virginia Tech, Boston College, Maryland. Those are three games in the league that we were actually shooting free throws in under 10, 12 seconds. If we tie the game, we make them. We have a non‑conference game with South Carolina that was the same way. We've had some good shot opportunities down the stretch. It's one of though years where you had the ball at the end of the game, you haven't made anything. When you've done something like drive it to the basket, gotten fouled, like we did at Virginia Tech, we don't make the free throws. Did the same thing at Boston College, got it to the free throw jumper, missed it, got to the foul line, missed the free throws. Just had a three‑point shot where we drew a guy up in the air. Andre Young, our 83% free‑throw shooter, he missed two of the three free throws. You feel a little snake bit. In all honesty, some of the kids have executed things very well to put ourselves in a position to make a play, but we haven't closed it, we haven't made the shot or made the free throws, so we've let some teams off the hook a little bit. Q. Brad, another difference in your team since the first Virginia team is K.J. has had a couple big nights. What has spurred him on recently? COACH BROWNELL: I think he got a little more playing time when Milt was suspended. We moved Bryan Narcisse to the four some. That opened up a little more time at the three for him. Obviously Tanner is there some. Tanner can be at the two. It really just opened up some opportunity. He had a really good game at Virginia Tech. He played reasonably well the other night against Wake. He's just a young kid trying to figure it out. He's got a lot to learn. I like his talent. I think he has a chance to be a big player. He needs some opportunities, has to play through some things. He hasn't been afraid to try to make a play. MIKE FINN: Coach, thanks for being with us. COACH BROWNELL: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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