Brownell says his 'really nice' players need more toughness on the boards

Tigers head coach Brad Brownell is looking for more toughness in the season's second half.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Feb 07 15:33:50 GMT-04:00 2023

If Brad Brownell’s Tigers are to stay in first place in the ACC, they need to stop being so nice.

The Tigers had a rough week last week, losing on the road at Boston College in a desultory shooting effort, and then returned home to lose to Miami Saturday night in Littlejohn Coliseum. However, the Tigers are still 18-6 overall and 10-3 in league play, a half-game ahead of Virginia (9-3), Pitt (9-3), and Miami (10-4). Clemson holds the tiebreaker over Pitt but now doesn’t hold the tiebreaker over the Hurricanes.

While the Tigers would like to win the ACC regular season, the goal is to finish in the top four in the league to avoid playing before Thursday in the ACC Tournament, which will be held this season in Greensboro. With NC State sitting at 9-4, the margin for error is razor thin. The Tigers also have to play at NC State on February 25th and then at Virginia on February 28th.

Miami defeated Clemson on the back of a dominant rebounding effort – the Canes outrebounded Clemson 38-28 and led 9-2 on the offensive boards.

According to Brownell, it’s time for the nice guys to go away.

“I’m disappointed,” Brownell said. “The only thing I’ve been disappointed in my team a little bit about this year is our guys are not aggressive enough offensive rebounding. Some of that is, I think, who you are. We’ve got a lot of really nice kids and they’re skilled players. They’re good basketball players. But we need more toughness sometimes.”

Hunter Tyson has battled on the boards all season – he had 10 rebounds against Miami – and is fourth in the ACC at 9.9 rebounds per game. However, the Tigers are next-to-last in offensive rebounds.

"As coaches we are what we emphasize,” Brownell said. “You can't emphasize 12-13 things. We obviously talk about it, but I probably don't do as good a job of that in some ways."

On the bright side, the Tigers appear to be getting healthy at the right time – Alex Hemenway, Chase Hunter, and Brevin Galloway have all recently returned from injury.

“The good news is we’re back whole for the most part,” Brownell said. “These guys who have been hurt, it’s not like everything just goes away. I think Chase’s ankle is still sore and PJ’s knee (after offseason surgery) has been bothering him some. … We need a break for a little bit. We need to, hopefully, get a little more healthy, rest a little bit and get back in the gym as a full unit. We haven’t done that many days, except the last two, to try to get whole.”

Another bright note – Clemson gets a chance to rest this week before playing at North Carolina at 2 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2).

“It’s good. I think our team is a little tired,” Brownell said. “It will be good for us. Hopefully, we’ll get refreshed and clean up a couple things and get ready for the stretch run.”