Brownell says there's a chance injured players could return against GT

Chase Hunter could be back this week after missing both matchups last week.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Jan 23 15:27:08 GMT-04:00 2023

There is a chance, a chance, that either Chase Hunter or Alex Hemenway, or both will be available when Clemson hosts Georgia Tech Tuesday night.

The Tigers sit atop the ACC with an 8-1 league record (16-4) overall after Hunter Tyson drilled a 3-pointer late Saturday in a win over Virginia Tech. Georgia Tech comes calling Tuesday night (9 pm, ACCN), and the Yellow Jackets haven’t won since defeating Miami in early January. The Yellow Jackets are 1-8 in the league and sit 8-11 overall.

The Tigers have played several games without starting point guard Chase Hunter and the starting shooting guard Hemenway, and head coach Brad Brownell told the media Monday that there is a chance one or both could play.

“There is a chance. They are better,” Brownell said. “Chase might be a little ahead. We will see. A lot will depend on today's (Monday) practice and that they are able to do. They did a few more things yesterday, which was positive, so we are trending in the right direction. I would say that.”

Clemson turned it over 17 times in the win over the Hokies, and Brownell said the Tigers will have to do a better job of protecting the basketball.

“Their defense was really good. Their kids were engaged. Our post guys turned it over a lot. Some of our post-feeding wasn't as good as it needs to be,” Brownell said. “Sometimes guys were open, and we didn't hold our seal. Sometimes we get balls deflected by the guy on the ball. Sometimes we didn't read the weakside defender as well. I thought we were trying a little too hard to throw it inside a little too quickly sometimes and not just organically letting it play itself out. And again, some of it was Virginia Tech did a nice job guarding.”

The Yellow Jackets will throw several different looks at the Tigers under head coach Josh Pastner.

“You never know what you are going to see. Josh has shown Triangle-and-2 a couple of possessions, a couple of different zones, the 1-3-1, and the 1-1-3, he has done it all over the years,” Brownell said. “They are a mirror opponent so we play them twice every year. We have seen that part of it a lot. They have good team speed. When they make shots, they are hard to beat. They are probably not shooting the ball as well this year as they would like.

“But we know it's going to be a hard game, and most of our games with those guys come down to the last possession or two. We played well down there in Atlanta. Really well. I think our team was highly motivated. It was about a week after our last trip to Atlanta where we had played Loyola and we didn't play very well. We have some Atlanta kids and I think that was fresh on a lot of our players' minds. We were highly motivated and ready to go.”