Brownell on potential lineup changes: ‘We’re looking at it’

With his team riding its longest losing streak of the season, Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell is taking some time this week to do a reassessment.

“We’re talking about all things,” Brownell said Monday.

Clemson (18-7, 10-4 ACC) will try to end the skid Wednesday at home against Florida State in what will be a critical game not only for keeping pace in the ACC title race but also for the Tigers’ NCAA Tournament hopes. Clemson, which has dropped to 77 in the NET rankings, is in desperate need of a win against an FSU team ranked 212 in the NET to stay on the right side of the bubble.

Brownell isn’t ruling out tinkering with his starting five if he ultimately feels like it would give his team the best chance to do that. When everyone is healthy, Brownell has ridden with the bigger lineup of Chase Hunter, Brevin Galloway, Ian Schieffelin, Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall for much of the season, though not all are producing at the level they once were.

Schieffelin hasn’t scored more than three points in any of the previous four games and is averaging 4.7 rebounds during that span at the power forward spot. Hunter Tyson is still vying for ACC Player of the Year honors, but the fifth-year forward is coming off a season-low three points and has attempted just nine shots in the last two games.

Meanwhile, Hunter has cooled off considerably since going for a career-high 26 points in the Tigers’ first meeting with FSU on Jan. 28. Clemson’s second-leading scorer is shooting just 23% from the field over the last three games, including just 1 of 16 from 3-point range. Hunter also has just one more assist (10) than turnovers (9) during that time, though Brownell suggested he’s not ready to bench his starting point guard.

“There are times guys go through little slumps,” Brownell said. “He’s probably in a little bit of one, but he’s in the gym right now working. Got a lot of confidence in Chase. He’s a really good player.”

Brownell said the Tigers’ biggest issue is keeping their poise during the flow of the game rather than the start, where Clemson has performed well. The Tigers have held the advantage early in the first half of each game during their losing streak, most recently holding leads of 8-2, 10-6 and 15-11 in the first eight minutes at North Carolina on Saturday.

But Brownell pointed to back-to-back 3s from UNC’s Caleb Love a few minutes later that put the Tar Heels up five as the turning point in that game. UNC eventually built a double-digit lead late in the half and carried that momentum to a 91-71 victory, Clemson’s largest margin of defeat all season.

“We watched (the game) again this morning, and we were getting the much better shots the first seven or eight minutes of the game,” Brownell said. “Then when it started going bad a little bit, we weren’t able to sustain. They did a nice job of getting offensive rebounds. They did a nice job in transition, and we did a terrible job in transition. We were constantly playing 5 on 5, and that became problematic.

“We’re looking at (the lineup). But to be honest with you, getting off to positive starts hasn’t been a problem.”

Leading wire to wire is the ideal scenario for any team. It’s also not all that realistic. Brownell said his team has to maintain its cohesiveness to weather the in-game storms rather than trying to play hero ball.

“Sometimes it’s doing too much and playing too fast,” Brownell said. “We’ve had a couple of guys getting out of character, and they’re trying to go one on one without a lot of space. So I think it’s a little bit of poise on offense. Defensively, it’s having better floor balance.”

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