Last Year: 23-11; Third (14-6) in the Atlantic Coast Conference, lost in the first round of the NIT
Head Coach: Brad Brownell (14th Year; 241-177 at Clemson, with three NCAA Tournament)
Projected Starting Lineup
| G Chase Hunter – 6’4″, 200 – Senior |
| G Joseph Girard III – 6’2″, 189 – Senior (5th) |
| F Jack Clark – 6’10”, 207 – Senior (5th) |
| F Ian Schieffelin – 6’8″, 228 – Sophomore |
| F/C PJ Hall – 6’10”, 238 – Senior |
Projected Starters’ 2022-23 Stats
Chase Hunter: 13.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.5 apg, 0.5 spg – 35.6% 3FG
Joseph Girard III: 16.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.0 apg, 0.8 spg – 38.1% 3FG
Jack Clark: 9.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.7 spg – 43.6% FG @ NC State
Ian Schieffelin: 5.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.9 apg, 0.3 bpg – 51.1% FG
PJ Hall: 15.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.1 bpg – 39.8% 3FG
Experienced Reserves
| G Alex Hemenway – 6’4″, 192 – Senior (5th) |
| G Jake Heidbreder – 6’5″, 180 – Junior |
| F RJ Godfrey – 6’8″, 228 – Sophomore |
| G Josh Beadle – |
| G Dillon Hunter – |
Experienced Reserves’ 2022-23 Stats
Alex Hemenway: 6.9 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.1 apg, 0.5 spg – 47.1% 3FG
Jake Heidbreder: 15.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.7 apg, 0.6 spg – 39.9% 3FG @ Air Force
RJ Godfrey: 3.2 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.5 bpg, 0.2 spg – 59.7% FG
Josh Beadle: 2.3 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.3 spg – 37.2% FG
Dillon Hunter: 1.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.4 spg – 29.8% FG
Freshmen
| W Asa Thomas – 6’7″, 185 – Freshman |
The Clemson Tigers were 18-4 in the final week of January last season, ranked 20th nationally and riding high towards an NCAA Tournament bid. That must have felt so very lost in the past less than two months later as the Tigers left their home court after their final game of the season, losers in the first round of the NIT.
It was, Clemson fans would tell you, a classic Brad Brownell season. The Tigers’ head coach has been in charge in Clemson for 13 years now, and has but three NCAA Tournament appearances and at least an equal number of bitter disappointments to show for his tenure. Atlantic Coast Conference rivals and Tigers fans alike have come to expect and accept certain truths and realities of reality with Brownell running the show, but there are often hopes of breaking that mold.
This season may be the greatest hope of them all.
That’s because Brownell returns All-ACC center PJ Hall, breakout guard Chase Hunter, and an intriguing group of young veterans to support them. And since his team had all that already coming back, Brownell and TigerImpact, the Clemson NIL Collective, went a-swingin’ for the fences in an attempt to upgrade the roster around them. The result is that the Tigers are welcoming four proven collegiate players – two of whom are former ACC foes – from the Transfer Portal to help this team realize its potential. It’s the biggest stockpile of talent Brownell has ever had at his disposal, and the expectation is obvious: this team needs to earn an NCAA Tourney invite and contend for a league title.
Hall has been the team’s leading scorer each of the past two years, and is the main pillar Brownell is building around. Though he tested the NBA Draft waters this spring, but ultimately Hall returned for his senior season to cap off his Tigers career with a breakthrough season of team success and hopefully, a resounding star turn personally. A dangerous outside shooter, Hall knocked down a career-high 33 triples last year. He’s also an effective scorer in the paint, using his quick feet and assertive post moves to create clean looks in close, and has a smooth face-up game from mid-range. Hall shot 71% near the rim last year and 46% on all other two’s, per Bart Torvik. He further racked ’em up at a 40% rate from deep and cashed in 79% of his 112 foul shots as a junior, showing the type of highly developed scoring game which will help him to continue as the focal point of Clemson’s offense. While Hall isn’t a hulking pivot, he’s long and mobile, and has constantly active feet and hands. He’s a great option to pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop, and Brownell hopes that his top big man can continue to evolve as a passer, since he is sure to continue seeing double-teams. Double-double machine Hunter Tyson is gone, so Hall will need to do more board work this year; while the Tigers were 17th nationally in defensive rebounding last year, they ranked 338th out of 363 Division I teams in offensive rebounds per game. While Hall led the team in offensive rebounds, he snagged just 52 in 33 games and grabbed only 187 total rebounds. If Clemson is to avoid getting blown out on the boards, Hall must reach a new level.
Chase Hunter had been a solid rotational contributor for three years in Clemson, making 23 starts, averaging 5.1 points and 19 minutes per game, and playing solid defense. And then, last year happened. Hunter exploded as a reliable scorer, decent outside shooter and efficient lead guard. Having only scored in double figures a dozen times coming into last year, there were only five games in the 2022-23 season which saw Hunter fail to hit 10+ points. He more than doubled his previous career-high in scoring average, tied Hall for the team lead in free throw tries, and handed out 4.5 assists per game; good for seventh-best in the ACC. After spending very little time as a primary ballhandler in his first three years, Hunter proved that he could both run the show and consistently create for teammates last year. Hunter can improve further as an outside marksman, and this year will look to share the primary playmaking and ballhandling duties with one of Brownell’s star imports. After what he showed last year, there’s no reason to doubt that Hunter can take his game to yet greater heights, and if he can blend in seamlessly with familiar face Joseph Girard, Clemson will have one of the best pairings in the conference.
“I think at the end of the day, we’re all good players, and we all want to be on the court,” Hunter told TigerNet this fall, speaking about the team’s upgrades. “You got to show it in practice. You got to bring it everyday, and I think we’ve done that this summer. We had orange against gray a lot, five-on-five, and people have shown up.”
“You got to bring it everyday, and I think we’ve done that this summer”
– Chase Hunter
After spending four years at Syracuse, Girard has transferred to Clemson rather than trying to start over with a young team back in New York. So that will make for an interesting homecoming when Girard shows back up during conference play wearing a different shade of orange, but Girard is mostly focused on realizing the type of NCAA Tournament success he tasted as a sophomore and has been hungry to try again ever since. One of the most proven bombardiers in the country, Girard has rained 297 triples upon the opposition already in his career. The last two years, he’s hit 88 and 89 total three’s, respectively, and at a combined 39% clip. Every opponent that the Tigers face this season will have to commit resources to attempting to knock Girard off course, and he’s proven time and again that those efforts will go for naught.
Girard is also, like Hunter, a proven playmaker who can keep the ball moving and offense flowing even when he’s not taking the shot on a possession. And while Girard is more a combo guard than a classic point guard, he has filled the role ably at a high level for years now – despite the objections to that statement which some within the Syracuse fanbase have consistently raised. Now, the most experienced version of Girard yet will play alongside a guy in Hunter who just finished seventh in the league in assists per game. And while Girard does love to launch from deep – another trait viewed unfavorably by some folks in New York – he does so at a terrific success rate; and Girard’s ability to create and make his own shot is a skill which Brownell’s teams have usually been in search of. Girard has a chance to play his best basketball yet with Hunter, and if things click for the veterans, Clemson could be more dangerous than ever.
Beyond the top scorers, Clemson has a stronger-than-usual supporting cast. Two more transfers figure to play vital supporting roles in a variety of lineups: versatile forward Jack Clark and deep threat Jake Heidbreder.
| Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks) |
| 54.1% – Team Effective FG Percentage (29th) |
| 47.3% – Opponent Effective FG Percentage (43rd) |
| 78.5% – Team Free Throw Percentage (9th) |
| 73.7% – Opponent Free Throw Percentage (286th) |
| 6.6 – Offensive Rebounds Per Game (320th) |
Clark, like Girard, is an ACC veteran. He played 23 games for NC State last season, in between core muscle and neck injuries. At his best, Clark is an extremely athletic hybrid forward who is creative defensively and getting out in transition to finish on the break; he is very difficult to keep off of the boards in his area and beyond, and offers a floor-spacing deep threat. Sometimes, though, Clark can try to go all Ray Allen despite the fact that he’s a 30% career shooter from deep and start putting up clusters of inefficient deep shots. With enough other forwards and bigs on the roster, Clark should get to play more of his preferred wing role than the hybrid-4 role he occupied in the Wolfpack’s one big, four out attack. Clark was highly effective in that role at times, as he’s an extremely energetic defender whose length and quickness when switching onto guards can be overwhelming. Cutting without the ball or slashing in with it in his hands, Clark can get to the rim. And with his ability to vacuum up boards on both ends and then start and/or finish the break, Clark is adept at cashing in cheap buckets. That’s why he can frustrate fans so when he gets chuck-happy; with smaller shot volume from deep, Clark’s ability to hit from the perimeter feels like more of a threat given his considerable range of talents. Clark has been dealing with an abdomen injury as fall practices have gotten underway, but hopes to be a full go by November. As long as Clark can stay healthy and Brownell can get him to play to his strengths, Clark will be an excellent addition to the Clemson lineup and a defensive menace.
Heidbreder arrives from Air Force, where he started every game of his two year career and posted a 49/39/84% slash line. Heidbreder can do a lot of things well, but his main talent is that he’s absolutely lethal coming off of screens on the perimeter with room to shoot. With a smooth, snappy release and good size, Heirdbreder can fight through traffic inside the arc to get to his spots and let fly. And he’s very capable of cutting off of those screening actions and the motion Air Force runs in order to free himself up for great looks up close, where he’s shot an outstanding 76% near the rim in his career. In fact, the 77% he shot at the basket last season was a better mark than Creighton star Ryan Kalkbrenner or Connecticut’s Adama Sanogo, the NCAA’s Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player during the Huskies’ title run. While Heidbreder is looking for his own shot first and foremost, he’s become a better and better passer, and whether it’s a quick drive and feed once the defense commits or a ‘hockey assist’ that gets the ball to open teammates when the defense rotates too hard or doubles, Heidbreder is learning more all the time how to manipulate the defenses which are increasingly aware of him. If he can continue to make opponents pay such a hefty price from both inside and out, Heidbreder may be the ACC’s 6th Man of the Year.
Brownell welcomes his final transfer up front, where two of last year’s rookies and the fifth starter will fight him for minutes both beside Hall and in relief of him. Bas Leyte is a 6’10 forward who played 121 games for UNC-Greensboro over the past four years. The past two seasons as a starter, he’s averaged 8.6 points and 5.1 boards in just over 24 minutes per game. While the other three transfers are undoubtedly going to have significant roles and be expected to put the ball through the hoop, Leyte was brought in to provide veteran size, depth and experience. That’s not to say Leyte is without skill; he’s under 20% from three for his career, but the Dutch big man can shoot the ball a bit. It’s just that he’s so much more efficient when he takes his shots from closer to the basket. If he can knock down some jumpers early this year, Leyte may be given the leash to keep trying them. Given that he’s at 25% on all attempts that aren’t near the basket the past two years, though, Brownell is going to want Leyte to focus on what he does well: rebounding, playing sound positional defense, and cashing in the good looks he comes upon at the rim.
| Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on |
| N – TCU – December 9 |
| @ Alabama – November 28 |
| @ Memphis – December 16 |
| N – Maryland / Davidson – November 12 |
| vs Boise State – November 19 |
Ian Schieffelin has started 29 games so far in his Clemson career, and is very much a glue guy who makes a variety of contributions to the rotation. He can knock down jumpers and fight for rebounds, and he’s a tenacious defender and heady passer. Schieffelin was asked to guard quite a few different players at various times last year, and to absorb some of the punishment from opposing bigs so that Hall and Tyson were more fresh to make offensive contributions. This year, Schieffelin will be needed to throw his weight around on the boards more than ever as well. With four proven scorers around him, Schieffelin will again be asked to focus mostly on the little things – but any steps he can take as a scorer himself would go a long way towards keeping Clemson consistently scoring the ball. Schieffelin averaged 8.9 points, 5.3 boards and 2.4 assists over the Tigers’ final seven games last year, and if he could post numbers close to that for an entire year, Brownell would be very well pleased.
Chauncey Wiggins and RJ Godfrey are sophomores who are looking to grow their roles. Wiggins is a talented shooter at 6’9, a stretch-4 who has the athleticism to defend at a high level in the paint – if he can get stronger. There was very little which Wiggins did glaringly wrong as a freshman, and he shot the ball very well when he shot it, slashing 44/40/67%. If the strength he’s added during the summer helps convince Brownell that he’s ready to play heavier minutes, Wiggins could see time both off the bench and in bigger lineups as one of the forwards around Hall. Godfrey showed some very promising flashes as a freshman. The son of former NFL linebacker Randall Godfrey, RJ is built like dear old dad but even taller. That strength serves Godfrey well in the paint, where he is a powerful rebounder and fights through bigger guys for his points. Godfrey showed great timing as a rebounder and shot-blocker as well, and he managed putbacks on many of his offensive rebounds. While Godfrey had the highest turnover rate and second-highest foul rate of the players in Brownell’s rotation last year, Godfrey’s potential shone at times. Brownell needs his guys to attack the glass, and if Godfrey can play clean and mistake-free minutes, he will likely earn a significant role.
Veteran guard Alex Hemenway had a career season last year, but his body tried very hard to derail things for him. Hemenway suffered a foot injury in December which lingered and forced him to miss much of that month and almost all of January. Then, right before the ACC Tourney began, Hemenway’s appendix burst and what was left of Clemson’s season was over for him. In between the injuries, Hemenway absolutely lit it up from the Land of Trey. He hit 47% of his triple tries last year, and in his 20 games played, he knocked down three or more six times. Hemenway isn’t a tremendous athlete, but he’s a smart and very savvy, max-effort defensive player. Hemenway came back for his extra season in order to go out on his own terms, and he would like nothing more than to have yet another career year before he’s done. The team’s long new freshman is Asa Thomas, a lanky shooter from Illinois who will fill in off the bench. “Coach Brownell insisted that they needed shooting and playmaking so I feel as though I can fill that role and bring that to the team,” Thomas told 247 Sports after signing with the Tigers. On a veteran team, minutes won’t come easy, but if Thomas makes shots, he will get to play.
Dillon Hunter is Chase’s younger brother, and a big point guard who proved that he will bring similar skills to those of his brother. Dillon started three games last year while Chase was out with a foot injury, and though he coughed up some turnovers, looked mostly confident running the offense. He didn’t shoot the ball well as a rookie, so Dillon Hunter will be looking to show that he’s more than just a solid defender and capable passer in his second season. Joshua Beadle played similar minutes to Dillon Hunter, but is more of a scorer. He has a smooth jumper and the confidence to drive the paint, and he will be looked to for some offensive spark when the starters need a rest. Unfortunately, he was involved in a car accident not long ago, suffering a concussion, broken nose, and requiring a surgical procedure. Brownell has said that he’s glad that the injuries weren’t more severe, but nonetheless Beadle must get back to health before rejoining in race for minutes.
There have been cycles of contention during Brownell’s tenure, but also some bitter disappointments. He is embarking upon a contract season; and this is, on paper, surely one of his most talented squads. Last year, the Tigers averaged the second-most points of any Clemson side Brownell has coached – and firepower has very genuinely been added to that attack. “We have talked about being a better offensive rebounding team. I would sign up for last year’s defensive rebounding percentage again. I’ll take second or third in the ACC in defensive rebounding right now,” Brownell told reporters this summer. “But we need to pursue the ball more offensively. We need to be more aggressive, and we are talking about that, working on that just to help us get a couple more easy baskets.”
Things have looked so good for Clemson teams of the past at this time of year. In 2018, the Tigers were ranked #22 by the AP preseason poll, and then missed the tournament. The disappointments of teams past, Steve Young might say, burdens Brownell as would a constant piggy-back ride from a great ape. This team knows that there are greater expectations than usual, and they’re ready to meet them head-on.
“I think what people don’t realize about Coach Brownell is that he’s been here for 13, 14 years, and that’s not easy to do at the ACC level. So, he’s doing something right,” Girard told TigerNet this fall. “I knew I was going to get the same tenacity, same competitiveness out of my coach here…I can tell that he loves winning, which is who you want to play for.”
This looks like a very good team. The out-of-conference slate is tough and will test the Tigers early. If Clemson can hold together down the stretch and fulfill their potential, this team has the depth, experience, and quality, proven shot-makers to play in the Sweet Sixteen, and maybe beyond. It’s all going to come down to this group having the right combination of fortitude, fortune and plain old grit to get it done.
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