There was no adversity in the first two months of the season if you ask Clemson head coach Brad Brownell.

The Tigers faced an impressive non-conference schedule, but dominated November and December to start the season 10-1 and being ranked in the AP Top 25. A gut punch hit with the new year as Clemson fell in three straight games and five out of seven in the ACC.

Brownell said the team got “smacked in the mouth” in the early conference season. It was a flurry of close games that didn’t go the Tigers way unlike the non-conference slate.

Clemson’s coach saw his team at 4-6 in the ACC and had a tough meeting to instill confidence  and purpose of what the group could become.

“I said guys, we need to understand something. I think some of you guys think we are the 10-1 team, right now, we’re the 4-6 team and if we go 4-6 again, we won’t be playing in the NCAA Tournament,” Brownell said at his Sweet 16 press conference.

It wasn’t perfect, but the Tigers found a fire again and strung together a 7-2 stretch. That featured a near-win against Duke in Cameron Indoor before traveling back to Tobacco Road a week later and defeating North Carolina on the road.

Brownell knew this team could compete with anyone in the country and didn’t want to let that potential go to waste in a disappointing season. Missing the NCAA Tournament for a second-straight season in heartbreaking fashion would’ve stopped Clemson from reaching this moment.

“I said that would be a shame because of what you did in the first two months of the year but also because I think we’re good enough to go to the Final Four and that’s not something that I throw around easily,” Brownell said.

The last time he recalled saying that to his team was 2018, when the Tigers reached the Sweet 16 before falling to No. 1-seed Kansas. Brownell believes this team is of that same quality or more.

“When we’re clicking, we can play with anybody in the country. We’ve proven that, we’ve beaten some of the teams in this tournament and so I think that’s a big part of it,” Brownell said. “These seasons are so long. They’re almost too long to be honest with you…you’re going to have ups and downs, you’re going to have times that don’t go well and you have to respond.”

Clemson can reach greater heights with a win against second-seeded Arizona Thursday and those Final Four aspirations would be one game away.