Brownell Would Prefer to Keep Playing
By: jasonpriester February 20, 2025

For the second time in less than a month, the Clemson basketball team has a week off.

When the Tigers had a week off following a 75-72 road win over Virginia Tech in late January, head coach Brad Brownell believed the time off would be beneficial seeing as his team was a little banged up. Not to mention, the flu was making its rounds through the locker room.

After the Tigers’ went on the road last Saturday and thoroughly dominated Florida State 72-46, extending the team’s winning streak to three games, Brownell said he might not prefer such a long break this go around.

“This is the one time I wish we had a midweek game,” Brownell said. “We had our week break earlier, and it was great. We needed it. We were worn out, we were physically tired. I gave the guys two days off in a row. Sunday, Monday. We practiced Tuesday and then we took Wednesday off. So we took three out of four days. I thought we were physically worn out.”

After the win at home over North Carolina last Monday, Clemson had four days off before they played in Tallahassee. Now the Tigers have a week off before traveling to Texas to play SMU on Saturday.

‘Obviously, it’s crazy,” Brownell said. “We just played Saturday, Monday we had the big Monday game with Carolina, so we actually had a little bit of a mini-break leading into Florida State, and now it’s kind of, okay, we’ve got another week. And it’s like, I’d rather us keep playing now this time. But we’re going to practice Monday, Tuesday, take Wednesday off, and then Thursday, Friday get ready for SMU. But I probably would rather have a game.”

This weekend’s matchup at SMU will provide Clemson with what looks to be its final Quad 1 opportunity of the regular season. With the Tigers currently No. 25 in the NET, it’s a game Brownell’s team needs to win. Not only to keep the momentum rolling but even more importantly for seeding purposes in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

However, with veterans like Chase Hunter, Jaeden Zackery, Ian Schieffelin and Viktor Lakhin, Brownell is confident his team will be ready, despite another long layoff.

“I think we’ve got a good competitive group,” Brownell said. “I think we play hard, we get the most out of our abilities, and we’re playing together very well. But there’s no doubt that this is a very challenging stretch in terms of quality opponents. Some at home, some on the road. Our guys have done a really good job of just kind of focusing on that next game and the preparation into the game, and I think that’s been key.”