CLEMSON – Brad Brownell and his Clemson team are saying “Ciao” to the Upstate of South Carolina for a week or so later this summer.

An informal salutation, “Ciao” is used to mean both “hello” and “goodbye” in Italian, as the Tigers depart for a 10-day exhibition trip to Italy on July 27. They will play a handful of games while touring some of the world’s most famous locations.

Though Clemson will be focused on winning its games after nearly two full months of workouts this summer, the focus for the trip will go far beyond basketball.

“I think the trip to Italy will be really important for us just as a life experience,” Clemson’s head coach said. “I mean, as much as the basketball is very secondary, when we start doing all that, it’s primary now.”

The trip will mark Clemson’s fourth foreign tour since 2013, and its second in Italy. While the Tigers will look to be competitive in each exhibition game, basketball will not be the main focus for the new-look team.

“We’re working really hard in June and July to get ready, but when we get on the plane and leave, the two hours of the game, we’ll be locked in and trying to win,” Brownell said. “But we’re not scouting. We’re not watching film. We’re not breaking tape down. We won’t do any of that while we’re on that trip. On that trip, we’re trying to have a good experience.” 

In the land of pasta, beautiful lakes, and unparalleled artistic history, the Tigers have a litany of stops lined up on their team-building excursion. Brownell has yet to be briefed on the exact specifics of the itinerary for the trip, but he knows his team will hit several key spots mentioned in movies, literature, and some of the world’s most famous paintings.

After a month of morning workouts, sitting by Lake Como and exploring Rome will be a nice change of pace for Clemson’s team, which features seven returning players and seven newcomers.

“I know we’ll go to the Colosseum and the Vatican and, you know, the Statue of David and Florence,” Brownell said. “It’ll be great. It’s good to see them experience something completely different, and then talk to them about the significance of it and then reflect on all the things that we have here and maybe a few things there we don’t have that we have to understand how to live without, which isn’t bad either.”

In addition to learning some world history and getting a change of scenery, the trip will also provide the squad with a much-needed time to mesh, as Clemson’s team includes players of six different ages from three different countries and seven American states. Though the Tigers may not have the same background, building chemistry in the summer can lead to better performances in the regular season.

When Clemson went on its first foreign tour in 2013 (its first trip to Italy), that team went 23-13 the following season and advanced to the NIT Semifinals. In 2017, the Tigers went to Spain before coming back to the states and posting a 25-10 record, which included a Sweet 16 run in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

In 2022, the Tigers toured France, and followed that up with a 23-11 record, which included a third-place regular season finish in the ACC. The Clemson men’s team also represented the United States in the World University Games in Naples, Italy in 2019, a gold medal finish for the Tigers.

Then there is last December’s trip to New York City, in which the Tigers ended up practicing in an airplane hangar before their game against BYU. Though Clemson lost to BYU in heartbreaking fashion at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 3, the experience brought the team together, which led to a 24-11 record and a third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Brownell believes this summer’s trip to Italy is an opportunity to help the 2026-27 team grow closer and bond, as it did with those other experiences.

“We want to spend time together, get to know each other, have fun together, laugh, and learn a few things,” he said. “It’ll be great. And I’m really excited to see how this team, you know, interacts with one another. So far, they’ve been great. A lot of fun and guys are excited to be here which is kind of step one, and then it’s earning trust together on the basketball court after.”