CLEMSON – Nary a corner of Littlejohn Coliseum’s court went unused at Clemson basketball’s practice Thursday.

The mid-afternoon session, open to media members, provided first glimpses of new Tiger players like Cole Certa – a sharpshooting transfer from Notre Dame who did not hesitate to let shots fly when the ball found a way into his asking hands.

Freshman guards Harris Reynolds and Amare James, as well as transfers David Fuchs and Liutauras Lelevicius were also on full display, running through head coach Brad Brownell’s offense in spurts sandwiched between coaching moments and thrown down dunks.

Some players from last year’s squad – one that made ACC Semifinal and NCAA Tournament appearances – were central in practice drills. Chase Thompson, a freshman role player last season, looked every bit the part of a veteran as he rolled to the rim and guided in left-handed layups. Big man Trent Steinour, a rising sophomore, also seemed to find the ball in the paint, and then the net, every few seconds.

With every successful rep, applause– aided by the warm acoustics in Littlejohn – echoed onto the glazed hardwood, harmonizing with familiar gym shoe squeaks associated with much cooler months. Some of the praise and claps came from coaches, but most emanated from injured Tiger players manning the baseline, sideline or corner.

Center Carter Welling, who tore his ACL in March and sported a March Madness t-shirt Thursday, turned around to encourage his teammates in between physical therapy circuits with a resistance band.

Several feet down the sideline, Zac Foster, who had his freshman campaign cut short with the same injury a few months earlier, added cheers while sporting an orange-accented knee brace.

Ace Buckner, a veteran guard working through a shoulder injury, got into some of the early practice action, and remained verbal when cycled out of the contact-laden drills.

“When there’s a little bit of adversity or there’s uncertainty in practice, it gets really quiet real quick in our practices, which is not good,” Brownell said. “And Ace, even from the side, has been the one constant of trying to encourage, challenge and make guys understand. He can compete a little harder so you can tell that he’s going to be a leader on this team. It’ll be much easier when he gets healthy.”

With the injuries, coupled with the additions of five transfers and two true freshmen, it has been far from a cookie-cutter basketball summer for Clemson. Add in five new assistant coaches to the staff and construction to the Tigers’ primary practice facility, and you have more chaos than trying to teach second graders how to play man-to-man defense at Brownell’s summer hoops camp.

“It’s been a little bit unique this year with being displaced,” Brownell said. “Not really having the same place to train, same locker room, all the stuff where we’ve been a little displaced has made this a little bit even more challenging.” 

If there is anything that can unify a group of “displaced” players from eight states, three countries and varying stages of health, though, it is a 10-day trip to another continent, where basketball will be served as a side dish to an entree of sightseeing.

On July 27, the Tigers will depart for a trip to Italy, in which they will play three exhibition games against two squads from Italy and one from Lithuania, coincidentally Lelevicius’ home nation. Clemson will make stops in Rome, Florence and Como, marking the fourth international trip taken in Brownell’s 17-year tenure.

As current injuries stand, with a couple more added to the reserve list last week, the Tigers will be down to just nine healthy players in Italy, which ultimately resulted in a quip from Brownell about making assistants suit up in the orange and white. 

Still, though, all injured players will make the trip, he confirmed.

“It’s important that all the injured guys, and we have several, we try to get them as much involved in practice as we can,” Brownell said. “Whether it’s just passing, just being around, just encouraging the other guys. But now we get a chance to go sightseeing together, go to different things, eat meals together. That’s really important. Just everybody being together, us being one team.”

Along with eating customary Italian cuisine like gelato and pasta, as well as seeing players experience landmarks like the Coliseum for the first time, Brownell is excited for much-needed bonding time out of the confines shaped by a constant offseason grind – conversations that are scarce in a training room or office, but are easily sparked with Lake Como as a backdrop.

“You’re always with your guys, in your office, you’re with your guys here,” Brownell said. “We have them over to the house some, but in that situation, you’re going to have a lot of organic conversations that just happen naturally when you get a chance to spend quality time with players. I think the relationship building is key. You got to earn everybody’s trust and there’s no better way to do that than meaningful conversation.” 

As five Clemson players wage individual wars on injuries from the sidelines, the Tigers will look to put new pieces together in Italy, both on and off the court. Though it may have been a displaced summer thus far, the team will be united by the message on their limited edition warmup shirts– “la grinta di Clemson.”

Or, in English, “Clemson Grit.”