ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 25, 2023

Brad Brownell

Chase Hunter

PJ Hall

Clemson Tigers

Men's Press Conference

Q. Coach, what you can say about bringing in someone from inside the ACC that's such a threat like Joe Girard III, and why it was important for you to add that piece this season?

BRAD BROWNELL: Well, Joe is a terrific player, and certainly have experienced that watching that and competing against him for four years.

Losing Hunter Tyson and Brevin Galloway last year, we thought we were really losing some three-point shooting, and to really create a little more space for these guys, Chase and PJ -- Chase in terms of penetration, pick-and-roll game, and PJ in the paint -- we felt like having more shooting would be good for us.

Joe is a guy that's going to be able to stretch defenses, but I also think he's a tremendous leader and he's a guy that is extremely competitive, so it's always good to add guys like that to your locker room.

Q. Brad, you've got an experienced group. Has this been a different camp than maybe some others that you've run in that maybe you let them lead the way a little bit more than you do?

BRAD BROWNELL: A little bit. We've had a bunch of injuries, though. That's been the only thing that's been a little frustrating. Jack Clark is still battling the groin issue that he had at State and trying to come back from that, so he really hasn't done much for us yet.

Joe and RJ both have had some sprained ankles, and Hemenway has had several injuries, hamstring most recently. We just kind of haven't been whole.

I'm excited to see what that looks like.

The other thing, because we do have so many new guys, and we have older new guys but we have a lot of new guys, so there has been a lot of teaching still. Our system is probably a little more complicated than some, really on both sides of the ball, so we've spent a lot of time in the gym and watched a lot of film as a group so far this year.

Q. You reached Clemson 14 years ago, and you had eight years as a head coach prior to that. That means about 40 percent of your life you've spent as a head basketball coach. What have you learned along the way?

BRAD BROWNELL: To surround yourself with really good people and try to enjoy the journey. Probably those two things. I really try to recruit players that I enjoy spending time with.

Coaching is hard. Playing is hard. Competing is hard. But it's also very rewarding and fun.

When you compete with players and coaches that you love and love being around, there's no better feeling than accomplishing something together in that situation.

I love my guys. I love my coaches. I think our culture and basketball family at Clemson is extremely strong. For that, I'm very thankful and blessed and have a lot of people that are responsible for that.

Q. The commissioner this morning said that maybe he suggested that next year not all 18 teams get to the ACC Tournament. Is that something you could get behind? Does that make sense to you?

BRAD BROWNELL: Yeah, I haven't -- first I've heard of that. I haven't thought about it a great deal. I understand why. It's probably going to mean more days, and at that time of year it's really challenging.

At the same time, every kind of conference in some way, shape, or form, if you don't make the NCAA Tournament, your conference tournament is your chance. So you'd be taking that away from some teams.

It doesn't happen often where low-seeded teams win, but the fact that you kind of get that chance -- I'm an old-school Indiana guy. I still wish we didn't have class systems and it was everybody got to be in the same tournament. That would be a little challenging.

I understand probably there's a lot more behind it logistically and timing-wise.

I probably would be for more teams than not, making sure that they get to participate.

Q. Looking at what is coming up with the addition of those three schools in Cal, Stanford and SMU, being a coach in a conference of 18, just what that sounds like and what that thought process is. You already have 20 ACC games.

BRAD BROWNELL: You know, it's definitely much different. I've been in the league long enough, back when there was 12 teams, and it's changed a great deal.

Obviously the more teams you have, it makes it much more difficult to make it feel like we're all the same and competing together. We don't get to know each other as well when you only play somebody once every so often.

I used to think it was crazy in football that you had teams that wouldn't even play each other in the same league. Obviously the more times you play somebody, the more you get to know them, the more there's a rivalry that can develop.

But certainly this is a new era in athletics. Many things are changing. Expansion is part of that.

Certainly welcome Cal, Stanford and SMU to the ACC. It's a phenomenal league. I love this league. I've been in it a long time. I think they will learn to love it, as well.

Q. Chase, you transitioned to the point guard role last season. How did this change impact your game, and how did you adapt to the new position?

CHASE HUNTER: Yeah, it wasn't a huge change for me. I think being the player that I am, I've always been a willing passer, someone who knows the game very well. I think the biggest thing for me going into last year and then even transitioning into this year has been my conditioning.

That's something that I've been working on a lot this summer. I think that's something that'll help me a lot this year, transitioning into this year being a point guard with this team.

I think for me, conditioning has been one of the biggest things that I've been working on, something that'll help me this year.

Q. How would you describe the roster this season?

CHASE HUNTER: Yeah, we've got a great team this year, a very exciting team. Like Coach said, we've got a lot of older guys, but I think our younger guys have stepped up, too, this summer. They've been working, working really hard. I think that transition into this next year, I think for them they'll be more confident. Had some experience last year.

Coming into this year with our older guys that are experienced and then those younger guys that had that experience last year, I think it'll be good for us this year.

Q. Chase, back to the assist question. 138 assists last year, 70 turnovers, 2 to 1 not too bad, but how do you reduce the number of turnovers?

CHASE HUNTER: I think for me it's just being more poised, not playing so fast, kind of just taking things more slowly. I think that's something that I've been working on this summer.

For me, I would just say just playing slower and just not making the risky passes. Just making sure that each pass is a great one and not playing too fast, like I said.

I think those numbers will definitely go down, but it's something that I'll be more conscious about this year for sure.

Q. You have to win a championship to call it a successful season?

CHASE HUNTER: That would be great. I think that would be great for us to win a championship. I think a successful season for us would be win as many games as possible, win those games that we're supposed to win, not taking any team for granted, and just playing how we know we're supposed to play. Just letting the pieces fall where they fall.

I think for us, being successful is win the games we're supposed to win, and I think a championship will follow if we do.

Q. PJ, how is the knee, and who's the glue guy now with maybe one of the most underrated players in the game, Hunter Tyson, gone?

PJ HALL: First off, yeah, knee is great. Knee is feeling better than it has in a long time. That's definitely a blessing for me, being able to come back and progress back to where it was before the injury. That was frustrating all year dealing with that.

This summer was definitely a steppingstone for that.

But yeah, to your question about the glue, I think that our younger guys are going to have a big, big role in that. Our freshmen, Chauncey Wiggins and RJ Godfrey from last year, those guys are ready to step up and are willing to step up, as well, they're not just ready to.

Along with that, our sophomores, now juniors and upperclassmen like Ian Schieffelin, those guys are ready, and like I said, willing to step up, and those will be the guys that definitely contribute those things that a lot of people don't want to do.

Hunter did all the things that people don't always want to do, and we have a lot of guys this year that know that's what it takes to win.

Q. PJ, from last season and the season before, there was a level of consistency from you and there were areas where you improved. Just what you can say about not being occasionally great but consistently good, and where do you feel like you've even improved more going into the season?

PJ HALL: Yeah, one thing I think that is going to be tremendously improved is my conditioning. It's frustrating, the past two years I haven't been healthy. My sophomore year was the healthiest I've been playing at a high-minute level.

Even with that being said, it was with a broken foot, so I wasn't practicing the entire year. I was just conditioning on the bike the entire time. You really can't replicate games, and so being able to be in condition, in shape, be able to go for longer stretches this year at a higher rate, that's going to be something that will definitely help my numbers and whatever it might be, just help us win, be out there and be a little more consistent at a high level.

But to speak to your point of just being consistent, and whatever is not great, it's good enough to win. I have to really step up and take that role this year because Hunter Tyson was that role, so making sure whenever the buzzer goes off that Clemson has got more points than the next guy. That's kind of the goal.

Q. You've shown versatility on the court not only as a scorer but also as a shot blocker. What's your mindset when it comes to protecting the rim and contributing on the defensive end?

PJ HALL: Don't get dunked on. A big emphasis this year is taking charges around the circle. We learned about that this past few weeks, and being able to go up with your arms straight up in the air and contest a shot with your chest. Take the brunt of the hit and not come down and foul.

So that's one thing I've struggled with in the past is foul trouble every now and again, and so being able stay out of foul trouble and stay in the game longer, more consistently, those two go hand in hand.

Yeah, protecting the rim, protecting the basket is something Coach Brownell is always on me about, and it's not always getting done, and I hear it.

I definitely is a point of emphasis.

Q. What's it going to be like playing with Joe this year knowing that the two of you guys bring back a ton of points in terms of league leaders?

PJ HALL: Yeah, it's exciting. I'm really excited to get out there and play with all these high-level guys. Joe is somebody who I've competed against for the last three years, and watching him playing against him, it's funny, you read the scout every time you're about to play somebody, and it gets to a point where you really don't need the scout for guys like that. You know what they do.

But when you come to be teammates with them, you see stuff in his game that you don't normally see all the time. He's a tremendous playmaker. That's what a lot of people don't realize. He's not just some run-off-the-screen shooter or knock-down three-point shooter. He can really create for other guys, whether that's spacing the floor, passing the rock around and creating for others. That's something that's a very underrated attribute about him.

Q. Does he know how to play man-to-man defense?

PJ HALL: He does, he does. He can play a little, but not against me. But yeah, he can play a little bit.