PJ Hall and Chase Hunter had their Clemson basketball careers come to an end Saturday night at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Though they tried valiantly to the end, they and the No. 6 seeded Clemson Tigers fell to No. 4 Alabama, 89-82, in the West Regional Finals of the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers (24-12) came up one game short of taking the program to its first Final Four.

“It still stings a lot right now. Probably will for a couple of days,” Hall said. “I don’t think that it will really set in what we’ve accomplished because we had our eyes set on big goals. And obviously we’ve achieved great stuff, but we came up a little short of what we really wanted to do.”

And though Clemson came up short, it’s run through the NCAA Tournament the last two weeks has been better than anyone imagined. In the first two rounds, the Tigers took down No. 11 New Mexico and No. 3 Baylor to advance to the Sweet 16.

Then, the Tigers turned up the defensive pressure and knocked off No. 2 Arizona to advance to Saturday’s Elite Eight date with Alabama. It marked the program’s first trip to the Elite Eight since 1980, ending a 43-year drought.

“Like Coach (Brad Brownell) said, these guys, we’re all loving. We love each other. We’ve been through a lot this year, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of people doubting us.

“But it’s just been about us. We’ve been just about us. And to end like this, it definitely stings, but we accomplished a lot. We did a lot of great things this year, and I’m definitely proud of our guys, and I love our guys.”

Clemson’s wins over No. 2 Arizona and No. 3 Baylor marked the first time since 1980 in which Clemson beat a top three seed in the tournament.

“I’ll say that obviously it stings to the core that we lost the basketball game, obviously,” Hall said. “But on top of that, it hurts even more, like Coach said. ‘You’re not going to be with the same team next year.’ Especially the older guys like me and Chase and Joe (Girard).

“I mean, it was such a fun group, man, from top to bottom, from redshirts to fifth-year seniors. It was an incredible group. And there’s nothing I’d change about it.”

Hall and Hunter saw the Clemson program continue to grow during their time in Tigertown. They were freshmen when the Tigers earned an at-large bid to the tournament in 2021.

They then became an instrumental part of Clemson’s 23-11 team in 2023, a team that was snubbed by the selection committee despite its 14-6 conference record and 23 overall wins.

This year, along with Girard and fellow transfer Jack Clark, Hall and Hunter made it their mission to get Clemson back to the tournament and then make a run.

“When we came in we were highly recruited guys. Our careers kind of started off slow,” Hunter said. “To get to this point, me and him just had a moment in the locker room, and I told him we made history.

“We did some big things for this program. I think that with me and him doing that, we set this program to a new standard. We plan on keep being in games like this.”

Though Hall was hurting, following the loss, he said he will remember this year’s run, and this team more than any other.

“Now with a couple of tournament appearances, a lot of wins in the ACC, an Elite Eight, it’s stacked up a quiet resumé that has helped build the program up,” Hall said. “We can attribute that to the coaching staff and the culture they’ve built. We came into a situation where it was a doubted culture, even though they had such a great thing building up. And to come in here, validate what they’ve done, validate the work they do, is special. And it’s amazing.”

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