Clemson head men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell spoke to the media after the team’s 91-88 overtime loss to South Carolina on Tuesday. Here’s everything he had to say.

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Opening speech

“First of all, congratulations to South Carolina. (It was a) good win. (It was an) incredibly hard-fought, competitive game – both ways for sure. (I) never thought both teams would score like they did in the second half. Both teams’ defenses were very good and that was the case in the first half. But in the second half neither team could really stop each other. Obviously the free throw blockout misses failed for us – we had two (that were) crucial. (We are) proud of our guys who fought. We just, kind of… (it’s) the second game in a row where we dug ourselves a hole and just had to fight all the way back. Certainly fouling was a problem for us in the end. And again they just did one or two more plays. Collin Murray Boyles on the track was probably the difference.”

What Brownell told Clemson’s players at halftime

“I don’t think we had a very good pace. I don’t think we achieved much of what we tried to do at the start of the game; I thought we made gentle cuts. They put a little pressure on us; it bothered us a bit. We simply lacked the energy and fighting spirit that we needed right from the start. I don’t really know why that is. Obviously I think we did it as the game went on. Obviously both teams will play a little better offensively with the benches helping, but I don’t really know why that was. Surely, Chase (Hunter)‘s game was great for us in the second half – and in overtime.”

About Ian Schieffelin and Viktor Lakhin’s foul from the game

“Yes, of course, Viktor (Lakhin) Had one of his worse games all year for us. He had a great game and, for whatever reason, didn’t play well tonight. Ian (Scheffelin) Fouling is obviously a problem as Viktor has already been fouled. We have Christian (Reeves) in there who doesn’t play much for us, still something of a developing star. I’m proud of him – I thought he did some good things. And of course they had to play against Colin Murray-Boyles, who was in foul trouble and therefore didn’t play as much as he normally does. Both teams fought the whole game.”

About what Brownell saw from South Carolina

“They have a good team. You can play big; they can play small. (Nick) Pringle helps them. When they have him and (Murray)-Boyles out there, they’re a big, physical team and they can do that. A guy like (Myles) mare Has shot the ball poorly all year, made five three-pointers against us today. But they can spread you around, putting pressure on your team. We talked about big lineup versus small lineup in the game, but we didn’t have an answer.”

Seeing Murray-Boyles and Schieffelin compete and lead their respective teams

“I mean, they’re both great players. Collins is a little longer and a little sportier. Ian just plays with incredible heart and enthusiasm. And that’s why they are an important part of both teams. They are both smart players; Both have high assist numbers this year – unselfish guys. So they’re definitely great people to coach and watch play.”

About what Clemson needs to improve after two straight overtime losses

“You know, I don’t know. Just like I told my team: I need to watch the film to learn more – to better understand what really happened. I just didn’t think we played very well, and part of that is South Carolina’s fault. We were very weak offensively in the first half; Defensively we were okay, competitive in some things. We got our win back, regained confidence and found a bit of rhythm in the second half. It was difficult because Viktor didn’t play very well for some reason – I have to see why that is. And he was a good player for us. So I probably need to look at more before I can give you a better answer.”

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On the question of whether Stute’s performance surprised Clemson

“I mean, we call him a shooter because basically almost all of his shots are three-pointers. But it’s hard. They have a lot of people who can shoot. Morris (Ugusuk) has been putting out the lights lately when you say his name like that. And then, (Jamarii) Thomas is a good player who didn’t shoot well tonight. Jacobi Wright can make threes. I mean, they can split one up with four or five players who can shoot the ball in. And then of course they also have good interior players who can score. So, like us, they are physically devastated and can be a difficult cover at times.

On Clemson’s recent performances

“Yes, that was a quick turnaround for us. It was an emotional loss for Memphis. I mean, it was hard. We had a tough run here with a big win against Kentucky, and then we had to immediately go on the road, play a conference game and then bounce back. And we had finals – and that’s no excuse because we had a lot of practice and stuff – and we played against a very good Memphis team and somehow lost it in the end. That was emotionally stressful. Then the rivalry game was played, so the fans didn’t get any juice. Actually, it’s just you, and you really have to have courage and tenacity.

“I’m proud of the way we fought to create opportunities for ourselves, but I told the guys – and I said it after the Memphis game – that it’s not a game where you just can play hard.” In this rivalry, it won’t be enough to play hard – you have to give it your best. And we didn’t execute it. We had missed blockouts. We had a couple of fouls beforehand that now let them go down and shoot free throws – we give them points. Obviously we had a few other things that were problematic. The longer the game lasted, the better we got. But then we probably died in the end. I thought we were tired late in both overtimes and couldn’t get the stops we needed. And I have to do a better job. I had to do a better job of helping my team figure out how to stop (Murray)-Boyles.”

Where Clemson struggled in the first half

“I think it’s a combination – I think their aggressiveness and just (a) good plan. And they are a good defensive team. I mean, we told our guys, ‘These guys don’t make a lot of mistakes.’ They’re ahead of you. They have a few different ball screen covers that they can combine well. And they’re long – they’ve got some length, good guys on the ball. So they’re just very solid. They don’t turn the ball over. You don’t have bad floor balance, so you won’t get many transitions (baskets). We scored a few goals in the second half, which was good. You really have to execute, and we just seemed a little disjointed at times. The flow wasn’t good, (and) I’m not sure why we didn’t flow as well as I would have liked in the first half. I thought we took some bad shots.”

While playing this rivalry game while class is not in session

“I’ve been doing this for 15 years or so. It’s a tough schedule. I don’t want this to be our opener; I really don’t want it to be our second game. I want both teams to play a little so we can find out who we have, especially in this day and age. And then all of a sudden we’re playing conference games, the first week we got the ACC/SEC Challenge. We always have MTE tournaments, there are; We have the final. There’s just so many things that it becomes a really difficult, small window of time to figure it out. And we haven’t solved everything for next year yet. So, I know, next year we’ll kind of do this (every) two years. So when we play here without students, they come back and play without students – that’s what we do. But it’s not easy to solve anyway.”

On Hunter’s ability to get Clemson back in the game

“He is a great player. I’m super proud of him because he’s grown as a young man and player in our program for a long time. And definitely he’s showing his talent and these are great games when he’s probably the only one on our team who can do all that. Doing it when you need it isn’t easy, especially after coming off a game where he made a great throw and had a few difficult plays at the end. But he shows great resilience and of course I am very proud of him.”