Brownell voices displeasure to ACC about "difficult" situations in tourney loss |
| - Monday, March 18, 2019, 2:14 PM |
CLEMSON –
Brad Brownell’s comments to the media following Clemson’s loss to NC State in last week’s ACC Tournament were short and to the point, with Brownell mentioning that he was disappointed in the way the game ended, a nod to a questionable call that put the Wolfpack on the free throw line with less than three seconds remaining.
Clemson led by as many as 18 points against the Wolfpack before faltering down the stretch and losing 59-58. Wolfpack guard Markell Johnson made a pair of free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining after being fouled by Tiger guard Clyde Trapp. Both Trapp and Brownell appeared shocked that a foul was called in that spot. “Really disappointed with the way the game ended. Really disappointed with the way the game ended. Too much at stake for things to end like that,” Brownell said after the game “Just thought it was a tough, tough play for us. Very disappointed with the way the game was ended.” During Monday’s press conference to preview the Tigers’ Tuesday NIT game against Wright St., TigerNet asked Brownell about the officiating during the NC State game, and he said he couldn’t say all that he wants to say. “I thought there were a lot of things that were difficult for our team throughout the game, an extremely important and emotional game,” Brownell said. “Obviously, I am not going to delve into all that. It’s not going to be good for me. I was hurting for my players. Those are hard locker rooms. You don’t have the right things to say to them. Again, there are things we should have done to finish the game. “We didn’t make shots in the second half, and guys didn’t drive the ball as much as we wanted to in certain situations, but there were also some things that caused the game to be a little bit difficult in situations with how the game was played and how it affected the game being played. You just want consistency in everything. It was a little bit of a tough situation that way. But again, we were in a position to do our job, and we didn’t do our job either.” Brownell said he doesn’t have to send film for the league to know how he feels. “Yeah. We haven’t sent film yet. I’ve had conversations. They know how I feel,” he said. “You don’t have to send film. They have all the films. They got more film than anybody. They have every game. They look at it. It’s out of my hands.” He said he hasn’t heard from the league office. No. Not yet,” Brownell said. “I’m sure when things die down we will all have more conversations at a better time. That’s just the way it is.” Brownell said he couldn’t find a common thread in the Tigers’ close losses this season. “No, I’ve done this before. If you guys want to go through them all again, it’s usually different things. It’s not one thing we have done wrong every time,” he said. “Obviously if you have followed us it is calls, no calls, missed shots, missed free throws. The frustrating thing a little bit is it really hasn’t been turning the the ball over which is really the common theme when you have a lead is you turn the ball over a lot. That really hasn’t been the case in a bunch of the games.”
