CLEMSON – Clemson basketball gave their first true look at the 2023-24 team in Littlejohn Coliseum Wednesday night. Brad Brownell’s Tigers handled business against Newberry, taking a 14-2 run early and stretching it into a dominant 90-39 win.

There was a lot of new faces on display for Clemson, as well as some new tricks up the sleeve of the familiar ones for the Tigers. Here’s all the observations from the final look at Clemson before the opener.

-Senior star PJ Hall looked maybe the best we’ve seen him. The opponent matters, but he had an easy 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting. That included two three-pointers and an exclamation point of a fastbreak dunk. His teammates even thought his head was at the rim. A healthy Hall is a scary sight for the ACC.

-Brownell was  frustrated with some of the early defensive mistakes, but the Tigers choked out the Wolves late, who managed just 12 points in the second half. As a whole, Newberry shot 22% from the field and turned the ball over 10 times. Brownell has to be happy with that.

-Everyone wanted to se Joseph Girard III and he delivered with two early triples before displaying his passing and defensive prowess. The team as a whole had 21 assists on 37 made baskets, and Girard had a heavy hand in the distribution. He’s also creating so much space with his range and it makes the Clemson offense deadly.

-Jack Clark is getting back in the loop after missing almost all of the offseason with an injury. He played 17 minutes, but there’s still a lot to be done. Nonetheless, we saw his versatility and Brownell expects him to play on the wing early and often.

-Activity was at a premium from Clemson. Six steals, five blocks and 17 offensive rebounds were the spoils. Taking on an inferior opponent, you couldn’t tell with the effort the Tigers gave. Ian Scheffelin was the greatest example of such with a 12-point, 13-rebound double double. That’s what Brownell wants to see out of his team.

-For a group that’s still working things out, the chemistry is that of a group that’s played seasons on seasons together. Brownell says it’s been up until the last week that Clemson hasn’t been able to prepare with most of their players, but you couldn’t tell on the court and that’s a great thing.