Chase Hunter delivers, determined to not let anyone down again

Chase Hunter scored 21 points in the Tigers' win over New Mexico, redeeming a tough ACC Tournament loss.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Mar 23 07:00:03 GMT-04:00 2024

MEMPHIS – Chase Hunter didn’t let anybody down Friday.

Following a loss to Boston College in last week’s ACC Tournament, Hunter, Clemson’s senior guard, felt like he let his coaches down. He felt like he let his teammates and Clemson fans down. He even felt like he had let his university down. And he was determined not to let it happen again.

In the Tigers’ loss to the Eagles, Hunter scored just two points, both on free throws. He was 0-for-10 from the field, a stat line that included 0-for-5 from 3-point range. Friday’s first-round NCAA Tournament victory over New Mexico was a different story – Hunter scored a game-high 21 points and distributed six assists while turning it over just two times.

Hunter knew he needed to play better.

“I was down about that (BC) game. I felt like I let my team down. I let the whole university down, to be honest,” Hunter said. “But coming into this tournament, I was fired up. I wanted to make sure I impacted this game whether it was on defense, offense, making plays for my teammates. And that was my whole focus coming to this tournament. I want to keep doing that.”

Head coach Brad Brownell said he wasn’t surprised to see Hunter play well.

“He wanted to play very well, and he was heartbroken, disappointed. Obviously, he just told you he felt like he let a lot of people down,” Brownell said. “That's why I'm so proud of our guys. We have great kids. They're -- not just for their performance but they 'let their team down,' they 'let the university down,' (Hunter) said. How many kids say that? Right? How many kids are thinking about other people like that?

“High character kid. I'm happy for him. And not surprised at all that he bounced back and played the way he did.”

Big men PJ Hall and Ian Schieffelin each went to the bench early in the second half with three fouls, and with the Lobos looking to gain momentum, Hunter scored 15 of his 21 points in the final 16 minutes.

“I would say we had the momentum the whole game. It was just about us staying calm, staying poised. And for me, I just wanted to make plays for my teammates. Obviously I made some plays for myself,” Hunter said. “Like I said, I wanted to make plays for my teammates. We made some big plays down the stretch. We kept the lead big, and we didn't let them come back. That was big for us this game.”

Hunter said the Tigers knew the Lobos were favored, but he didn’t want the team to concentrate on anything other than themselves.

“We weren't focused on any betting lines or anything like that. We were focused on winning our game, playing our game,” Hunter said. “We heard a lot of talk about that New Mexico was going to beat us, but we were just focused on us. We came out with some fire and intensity. They couldn't handle it in the beginning. We kept it on them. We just kept our poise and our confidence. And we finished this game.”