Ingles Countdown to Tipoff #88 - Clemson vs Miami 2-14-2024

The Tigers gear up to face down the Hurricanes in today's matchup! As always, John and Rich preview today's game, and set the scene with interviews, clips from the players, and more!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We S E FM Greenville, Spardenberg, Andersen. Time for the Ingles Countdown
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(00:21):
Pallmeadow State Armory. Now here areyour hosts, John Alism, Richmond and
Weaver. All right, it's timefor another evening of Clemson basketball, y'all
because it's the Ingles Countdown to tipOff Show, and you know what that
means. It's time to take adeep dive into what happened with Clemson last

(00:41):
week and what's going on tonight isthey take on the Miami Hurricanes thirty fifth
meeting all time, The series iseven at seventeen. Richmond Weavers. Something
has to give tonight, my friend, Hey, it is coming down to
the wire as we're here on aWednesday and Valentine's Day of all days,
so hopefully everybody has already been ableto secure their gifts for their loved one

(01:06):
and making sure that they did wishhappy Valentine's Day. But yes, I
mean we're basically thirty one days fromhaving a bracket. So we are that
close to obviously the NCAA Tournament,but even more so now the Clemson Tigers
trying to fight and climb position inthe ACC standings to make a better opportunity

(01:30):
to secure that chance that time whereClemson can win an ACC tournament championship.
We know it's never been done.They did win the ACC regular season title.
That was in nineteen eighty nine whenI was a freshman already a team,
so a long time ago. Andyes, it might be a challenge

(01:51):
to win the regular season title,I get that. But Clemson is definitely
a team that can make a runin the ACC tournament. But you do
want to position yourselves as best asyou can to have one of those higher
seeds, and obviously Clemson sitting hereat five hundred in the ACC has an
opportunity to be able to do thatand maybe get into that stratosphere of a

(02:13):
double by scenario if you can finishin the top four there and how that
plays out. Now, that's stilla tall task. But John, as
you know, we've seen some crazythings happen in the sports vulnerable right now,
and everybody is vulnerable, and we'lltalk about it as North Carolina loses
to Syracuse, who obviously the ClemsonTigers just beat and you look at Pittsburgh

(02:37):
beating Virginia and Tony Bennett's team,and so there's all of these things that
are still going on. And asmuch as we're looking at hey, it
is the middle of February, sowe don't have much time, but there's
still plenty of games that will affectthe ACC standings and how these teams are
going to play out not only withinthe conference, but then also how does

(02:59):
that shake things out moving forward forthe NCAA tournament. You know, the
coach is always gonna tell you,Every coach in the world that has sense
about him is gonna tell you,one game at a time, winshield mentality.
We as fans, we as analystscan look and see the picture getting
murky in the ACC. And youmentioned that top four for the double bye,
that you got this litany of teams, including pitt Now with a big

(03:21):
win last night, we'll go overall these upsets that happened. There's this
logjam of teams at seven and six, and you got Clemson sitting there with
six wins in the conference. Virginia, Duke North Carolina are well positioned,
although as I said, none areimpervious. And then you've got Syracuse at
seven and seven, a team thatClemson went in and beat at the JMA

(03:42):
Wireless Dome. I still can't Isay that without thinking a carrier dome.
And that's the thing. You almosthave to be very intentional and make yourself
pause for a second and say JMAwireless instead of naturally it just comes rolling
off your time. Oh, thecarrier dome, said the JM Carrier Dome
earlier. Yeah, I'm all overhim. Yeah, what a win though,

(04:02):
I mean, look, this ishuge because we know that sarahcuse.
Look, they're in a transitional period, but they're doing a nice job at
home racking up wins. They've beena very solid team, and Clemson comes
in without their best stuff from theirbig men. Brad Burnell even talked about
that. You'll hear from him shortly. By the way, Don Munson joins
us in about twenty minutes of yourlife from little John, we'll get his

(04:23):
thoughts on this. Clemson gets thebest performance they could imagine in a homecoming
setting for Joe Gerrard with his familythere. His grandmother was in attendance.
She rarely goes to any of hisgames. He puts up eighteen points.
Rich when you'll love this, theefficiency factor five a six four or five
from downtown made all of his freethrows. Was being booed mercilessly, and

(04:46):
I for what reason. I don'tknow whether these college kids and they'll do
college things. But Girard went inand enslayed the dragon man. It was
a great win for Clemson and agreat moment for Girard, and I think
that was the kind of win youcan really lean into and say, you
know what, we grew a littlebit as a team here we went on
the road and Gerard and we're gonnatalk about him a lot in this particular
show, but even haul down thestretch and everybody else, Chase Hunter had

(05:10):
some big place, Jack Clark offthe bench with some rebounding. Impressive win
for Clemson, Rich, Oh,it definitely was. And as much as
we talk about obviously winning some ofthose home games, but then being able
to go out on the road.And I know the JMA Wireless Dome is
not the same as Cameron Indoor.I know it's not the same as going

(05:31):
to Chapel Hill, where the ClemsonTigers have had history against them. As
far as winning in Chapel Hill aboutthree. Now, that's a very good
point sixty seven here in the twentytwenties, right, And you have to
look at it though also that Domeis a very tough place to play.

(05:53):
So considering that Clemson was able togo to Syracuse coming off of the big
win, also on the road,then you have that scenario playing out where
you know, how much is thatgoing to affect Clemson and how much is
that going to be a scenario whereyou're looking at it from a different lens

(06:15):
and knowing that you've got Joe Girardand the emotions that's going to be with
him as he travels back to Syracuse. And I think that's what's so significant
when you look at it from thatperspective, is that you do have a
guy that we know he can shootthe lights out, but there's something about

(06:36):
shooters that mentally you can lock yourselfout because you're overthinking things at the moment,
the pressure, you know, allof that. However that might play
out, but for Joe Girard tocome out and the way he did in
an emotional environment where he spent fouryears. Think about that, John,
it is and he's more familiar withthat dome than any of the thing you

(07:00):
in college basketball and the history thereofand the optics of it. It's a
different type of look and feel therebecause it's really like a football arena.
And the level of poise and confidencehe showed. And you know this better
than I do as a as aformer coach and player, man shooting is
not easy, and shooting with poiseand confidence, that was a man on
a mission. That was a manwho knew what he wanted to do,

(07:21):
and he was in control of hisgame and his Brad Burnell will talk about
later. He used the e wordefficiency a lot, and Brad loves an
efficient player. Joe was just that. And he was also a real lightning
rod in a good way for thatbench, I think and some of the
players with that team, because theyhad his back, they had his back.
Bread that's a great point, thelightning rod, Yes, because I

(07:42):
do believe that the rest of histeammates recognized that that was probably some unfair
treatment to say right coming back toSyracuse. I mean, what he's done
for that program. And this isjust the world of college basketball now that
you do have the ability to transfer. But think about it. Also,

(08:05):
he played for Jim Beheim, andJim Beheim retired and Joe Gerard graduated.
So isn't that like the prime opportunitywhere you would say, Okay, I
understand that you graduated, you gotyour degree, you spent four years,
you were very loyal to this program. You were loyal to Jim Beheim.

(08:26):
Now there's a new coach coming inand everything, and why wouldn't you look
at an opportunity for another pasture,so to speak, Absolutely, that's like
the more traditional transfer than anio treasurer. That's okay, my coach a legendary
coach, and Jim Beheim is left. I've got to find, as you
said, greener pastures, and hefound them by way of Clemson. I

(08:48):
would say this that there's a weatherdifferential to it might help with his choice.
But and they talked about that.I've talked with our good friend Don
Monton about this. We'll have himon the show later and ask him about
it as well. Just the abilityto you know, have Gerard down there
for the visit, and I knowthat Brunell did a great job just bonding
with them, and there's a realrelationship there between Joe Girard and Brad Brunell,

(09:11):
and there's a deep respect between thosetwo men. And we've always talked
about this, you know, thisteam, to me, Richmond, it's
about vibes and confidence and right nowI can't think of a Clemson team And
maybe a week or two ago wewould have said differently, but even with
the loss of Duke, they channeledthat into some good vibes at North Carolina.

(09:31):
I really do think this is adifferent team that we've seen in a
while here at Clemons Well, andthat's what I was trying to emphasize also,
is that this going to Syracuse afteryou just had a big emotional win
on the road at North Carolina andhaving to follow that up and didn't have
a let down, letdown type ofgame. Now you can say Clemson did
have a letdown type of game againstSyracuse. In regards to turnovers. They

(09:56):
just looked ugly at times, havingso many turnovers twenty turnovers in this game.
But Syracuse wasn't able to capitalize onthose turnovers. Because I do believe
that Clemson was able to get backin transition defense and didn't allow Syracuse to
capitalize on those turnovers. And youlook at it also even more so though,

(10:18):
that Clemson was able to counterbalance thepoor performance from a turnover perspective by
doing everything else so well, shootingthe ball well from not only the field,
from beyond the arc and even fromthe free throw line and rebounding,
so they did all of the otherthings that you needed to do so the
turnovers didn't hurt them. And thenobviously Joe Girard having eighteen points and what

(10:41):
he was able to do from beyondthe arc and going one hundred percent from
the free throw line and needing eighteenpoints exactly to reach two thousands points in
his career storyline too. So thereis just a fantastic game all the way
around when you look at it froma perspective of Clemson didn't falter in the

(11:01):
moment, And you're what you're talkingabout, John, is that this team
seems to be a little bit different. Because I've been following Clemson basketball for
a long time, oh yeah,long time, and that game in Syracuse,
that's a game that I've seen Clemsonlose a lot of the times.
It's the kind of game that getsBrad Burnell put on this hot seat that

(11:24):
we talk about with analysts, especiallywith fans from some in our media business
here, and look, I liketo do this show with a very balanced
perspective, and I respect Brad Burnell, but I understand people want to be
in the tournament, they want toadvance in the tournament. And the last
time they were there, Rutgers gotthem in the first round. And last
year was last year, and wecan rehash that all we want, but

(11:45):
this year it just feels different.And what you got to look at too,
is they didn't have their best stuff. You mentioned the turnovers. It
wasn't great. Hall wasn't at hisbest, and Brenell talked about this early
in the first and second halfs theyweren't at their best either. But come
crunch time, they were able tocobble together a win against a very good
team, a team I think wasten and one or eleven to one at

(12:07):
home coming in here in Syracuse.You go into that environment without your best
stuff and you come out of therewith a win. It's a win first
of all, which is huge,and then it's a confidence boost knowing hey,
we weren't at our best, noteven close, and we beat a
very good team on the road,Yes, exactly. And we saw just
Syracuse was able to beat North Carolina. Thank you very exactly caught up.

(12:30):
It adds even more to what Clemsonwas able to do that they were able
to get that victory. And Ithink that just continues to build the resume
for Clemson and how they've been ableto showcase that they can win some of
these tough games. And I knowTim Ray's got all the stats out there
that you can imagine just in termsof, you know, how Clemson has

(12:52):
been able to, you know,win on the road, and especially this
past week where they were able towin at number three North Carolina and then
go on the road as obviously we'retalking about winning against Syracuse and on the
road. And so remember this,North Carolina and Syracuse are both in the
top ten and wins in all ofDivision one history. So's these are two

(13:15):
storied programs from a college basketball standpoint, and that's impressive for Clemson to get
both of those wins and on theroad. It marked the first time Clemson
had won two road conference games inthe same week since January fourth, through
seventh or twenty twenty three, it'sbeen that type of season we know in
conference play, not just for Clemsonbut for almost everybody win here or loss

(13:37):
there. Hell, Virginia had whatthirty eight points or it was I'm sorry,
Miami, Miami. They got thefull Tony Bennett treatment. Yeah they
did, and they walk out ofthe presser, and then they come back
and they play better basketball against NorthCarolina and then Virginia gets stunned by Pitt.
I shouldn't say Stunn because Jeff Caplehell of a job he's doing right
now. Again, anybody in theACC can win in any of these games.

(13:58):
That's just how competitive is and that'sthe parody. And going back to
Clemson road victories, don't forget aboutthat road victory against Alabama. Oh yeah,
and so that is a very impressiveroad victory now that you can say
at Alabama and North Carolina, whichthose are two of the top ten teams
in the net rankings, and Clemsonis the only school in the country with

(14:22):
two road victories over teams in thetop ten of the net rankings. So
that's pretty impressive right there. That'swhy this resume is solid for Clemson for
the NCAA Tournament. I'm pulling thisaudio in about a month. I want
to make sure we've got it onrecord because that's some great resume building right
there. That's impressive. And yeah, we'll see how it stacks out here
in the ACC. The race forthe ACC continues in terms of seating big

(14:46):
one. Tonight in Little john Is, Miami comes calling Jim laarrenegas team very
talented. They'll take on Brad Burnell'sTigers. Coming up next, you'll hear
from coach Brunell and some audio fromJoe Jerrar, some interesting perspective from the
coach and the player in what wasan emotional game at Syracuse. This is
the Ingles Countdown to tip Off Show. Much more to come here on ninety
two point five WSC. Ninety twopoint five w SE is the Upstate's new

(15:11):
home for the Clemson Tigers. Welcomeback to the Ingles Countdown to tip Off
Show. Get you ready for anotherbig night of Clemson men's basketball coming off
the Big Twin at Sarahcuse. We'lltalk about that in a minute with some

(15:35):
comments from Brad Brunell and of coursethe standout the hero of the day was
a homecoming of sorts for Joseph Girard, who came back to Syracuse, the
former Orange product up there for Syrahcusenhad quite a homecoming. We'll get to
some of his comments a minute iswe'll get to some of his comments here
momentarily. Want to remind you realquick. We're brought to you by your

(15:56):
friends at Ingles, Low Prices,Love the Savings, Ingles Markets dot Com.
It is Valentine's Day evening. Ladiesand gentlemen, never too late to
stop in, Grab some flowers,grab some of that Valentine's Day candy.
Front and center there at Ingles.They have you covered. Low Prices,
Love the Savings, Ingles dash Marketsdot com. It's Clemson, It's Miami

(16:17):
tonight they're tipping off, coming upat seven pm. You got Jim Davis
side by side with our good friendDon Munson, who will join us here
in a few minutes live from LittleJohn giving you a first hand preview of
this big matchup in the ACC.But looking back at what happened at Syracuse,
a game that had a game witha lot on the line in terms
of ACC positioning. Of course,the net rankings Clemson gets the big win,

(16:42):
and Joe Girard, of course comingback to Syracuse was a big part
of that. You'll hear from himin a minute. Here's Brad Burnell right
after the game speaking with the mediaaddressing his thoughts on the win. Obviously,
really good win for us today.Thought we played very well in Spurts
and I thought Syracuse bothered us attimes and Spurts we we looked a little

(17:03):
bit slow at times. I thoughta couple of my big guys have not
been practicing lately. They've got somestuff they're dealing with, and we looked
like a couple of guys hadn't practicedas much. But you know, gritty
win. Second half, they reallycame after us. Obviously we turned the
ball over my big guys especially,but I'm proud of the way our guys
finished. This was a you know, place got loud in here. It

(17:25):
was a tough place to play,and the plays we made down the stretch
were significant. Obviously won us thegame. And of course, as we
mentioned Coach Burnell, not lost uponhim or anybody in that arena that there
was some noise, not pleasant noisedirected at mister Girard it was a homecoming.
Here's coach Brenell on Joe Gerard comingback to Syracuse in the big win.
Yeah, Joe's been terrific and wethought he would. You know,

(17:49):
he we recruiting pretty hard in thein the transfer portal and got to know
him through that process and just reallyknew that he had something about him that
was different. He's a winner,he's a mature guy. He poised,
right. That's part of the reasonI wanted another guard like that. I
thought we had a chance to havea really good team, but I wanted
another guy that environments like this atNorth Carolina, at Duke. He wasn't

(18:11):
gonna flinch, and obviously today wasnot easy for him, right, very
emotional. We talked a couple timesduring the week. You know, I
think he handled it very well.Folks need to know he loves this place
tremendously and he's never said anything otherwisedown in our place. And obviously he

(18:33):
loves coach Beaheim and the coaching staffand all the players that he's played with,
and this place will always have aspecial place in his heart. But
college athletics is different right now,and there was a change here and he
wanted to try something different, andobviously we're very thankful that he did because
he's helped our team tremendously, notonly as a player, he's obviously a

(18:55):
very good player, but just hismaturity as approach, way he goes about
his business. You know, teamguy. Everybody gets along with him,
and I think it's been really goodfor him. I think he's really grown
through the process. I think this, you know, moving away, being
a little more out on his own, having to figure some things out,
adjusting to a little bit different lifestyledown there at Clemson, certainly adjusting to

(19:18):
a new coach, different style ofplay. Those are all things that are
going to help him moving forward,and that's part of why he made the
decision. So this was not aneasy trip back for him. I certainly
hope that the Syracuse people feel specialabout Joe Girard because I know he feels
that way about them. Now.Something you'll hear Brad Burnell preach throughout seasons.

(19:40):
It's a mainstay efficiency. He looksat Joe Girard as one of those
guys that plays well, plays hard, but most of all is efficient.
The mark of a good player istheir efficiency, right, I mean their
efficiency is what's the mark of agood player. I mean, there's a
lot of guys that score twenty pointsand take twenty shots to get them.
You know, guys who are winnersfigure out how to do it and be

(20:02):
efficient players and help make their otherguys better. And so you know,
there are times when they're guarding Joeas hard as they are, Well,
they're space inside for our other guysto operate or Chase to drive or whatnot.
And so I thought Joe showed greatmaturity today. I mean, he
only took six shots. I wouldlove to have gotten him twelve. I
mean, we'd love to get himten or twelve every night, but some

(20:22):
games teams try to take him out. And again, his efficiency was terrific.
Sensing a bit of a theme here, The questions were centrally focused on
Joe Girard, who again had abig night. You look at what happened
here in the game. The bigguys in the lineup struggle. Brenell alludes
to that in this comment and alsobrings up the fact that Gerard kept his

(20:42):
poise down the stretch. Well,our big guys really struggled with that.
Obviously, the free throws down thestretch were crucial. Just handle the ball
against the press. We ran areally good time out play and he knocked
it down. And then just theway he was in huddles right, he
was confident, he was calm,he was reassuring his teammates. You know,

(21:06):
you know, it was a gamewhere PJ was struggling a little bit.
Again. He and Ian, youknow, didn't practice very much this
since the North Carolina game. Ithink that game was really hard on them,
and so there was a wearing effect, and so they looked, you
know, our guys kind of lookedat Chase and Joe that we knew that
those guys, because of the waythey were guarding some of the other things,
those guys weren't have to make plays. And there was one element of

(21:27):
the game, you guys and ladiesout there that watched it even listen to
it. Here on ninety two pointfive, WEC could hear some of the
booing the jeers towards Gerard, whoplayed the majority of his college years in
Syracuse. Here's Brad Burnell after thegame expressing disappointment towards some of the Syracuse
fans. I was a little disappointedin the booze. I mean, I

(21:48):
get it the students especially, that'sjust normal stuff. But and I hope
that most of the fans. Ithink probably a lot of the fans were
our Jojr. Art fans and weren'tbooing him. But I was just supporting
my guy. I mean, he'sone of us now, right. I
Mean, he's always going to havea big part of his heart at his
Syracuse, but I think he's goingto have another shade of orange down there

(22:11):
that's Clemson. And you know,that is something that's good about all of
this. And he has built relationshipswith a whole different set of folks,
and obviously he also now has awhole other set of folks down in Clemson
that they're going to help him forthe rest of his life. Also,
right, we're not just using Joefor basketball. I'm going to help that
young man as long as he needshelp for the rest of his life and
hope to have a relationship with himfor forty years. And to that end,

(22:33):
the challenge of playing at the JMAWireless Dome. Look, it's one
of the great environments in college basketball, no matter what the records are,
and Syracuse does have a really goodrecord at home. Coach Brunell was very
clear, that's a tough environment toget a win. I mean, there's
certainly situations where you're going to needthem, all right, you got to
get a little bit from everybody.I thought Chase had some very opportunistic drives.

(22:57):
You know, he is physically strugglinga little bit today and didn't quite
have his a but I thought hemade some good plays down the stretch.
So yeah, in a game likethis, I mean, Syracuse is eleven
and one here now they have somereally good wins at home. This place
gets loud, it's hard. Yougot to make winning plays down to stretch.
We knew when we got off toa great start, they're going to

(23:18):
fight back like there's going to bea run. And unfortunately, I just
I was really disappointed in our beginningof the second half. To be honest
with you, my starters did notdo a good job at the beginning of
the first half or the second half. I thought my bench in the beginning
in the first half gave us thejuice defensively to kind of build our lead,
and you know, it took usa while in the second half to

(23:38):
kind of have the same kind ofdefensive presence and now you have it.
Head coach of the Clemson Tigers,Brad Brunell with his weekly commentary on the
game that was. Joseph Gerard spokeafter the game. Here was his take
on coming back home. That wasawesome. You know, I mean saw
a lot of people that you know, I created a relationship for four years
even more for a lot of them, and just to be here, to

(24:00):
be able to see him have smileson the face before and after the game,
it was great. And you know, I love my time here and
I love the people here, soit was a good time to be back.
You know, obviously, you don'treally set yourself up for this.
You never think or imagine you're gonnacome back to you know, where you
played for four years. You're alum and gonna play against him in their
in their crowd. But uh,you know, I had a lot of
people around me. You never didn'treally talk about it, you know,

(24:21):
being in the midst of the season, you're kind of taking it day by
day and I haven't thought about itreally up until this point. And to
come back here and get it winwas a lot of fun. And of
course one of the storylines there isseeing some family in the stands. His
grandmother was there. Here's Gerard onthe emotions involved in being back in Syracuse
with his family watching. Yeah,that was the weirdest part, I think,
you know, when I was givenin the transfer portal and a lot

(24:44):
of the the you know, someacc coach started recruiting me, and then
I'll ultimately, you know, comittto Clemson. I think this. I
always said, the weirdest thing wasgoing to be seeing them on the other
side. And you know, I'veseen where my parents sat for four years,
and to see him on the otherside was it was definitely pretty weird.
But got used to his the gamewas going on and the top it
off. To get the win issweet, but to cross the two thousand
point threshold back in Syracuse even sweeter. Gerard tries to downplay it a little

(25:08):
bit here. Yeah, I meanGod works some mysterious ways, and you
know, I've always said it,and you know, he really came through
tonight, and you know it wasa lot of fun. You know,
I didn't really I haven't really thoughtabout much two thousand. You know,
quite honestly, I knew he wasin reach. You know before the season,
you know, had all things goneto plan, and to have it
here, I'm at a loss forwords. I really don't know how you
know what to say, and youknow, it's just crazy how it all

(25:30):
works out. And he was askedafter the game too, Gerard was how
did you cope with the booing andsort of the crowd noise that wasn't as
I said two pleasantive times. Hewas a very direct answer from Gerard.
Uh, you know, I didn'tthink too much of it. You know,
I just kind of you know,I'm an emotional player, you know,
no matter where I'm at, andyou know I had that been in
another crowd, even somewhere else whowas booming me, I probably would have

(25:52):
done the same thing. So itwas not the personal, but glad to
add their fun and we had ourfun and I thought this was great too.
And this is something Brunelli talked aboutas well. Brad Burnell had his
back, The teammates on the benchhad Joe Girard's back, and here's Gerard
expressing gratitude towards his teammates in anemotional game, no doubt having his back.

(26:12):
It was awesome. You know,these guys have been great. They've
they've acted like I've been there forfour years already and took me in since
I've stepped foot on campus. Soyou know, the teams that are,
you know, the best off thecourt are usually the best on the court.
And you know, that's what wegot here at Clemson. We have
a great locker room, a lotof guys who love playing together, love
hanging out together, and just beingone team. And it all comes full

(26:32):
circle because Brad Burnell was such acentral figure in getting Joe Girard down to
Clemson. Of course, he wasthe central figure in that. In the
current climate we live in within ilthe portal, there's a level of trust
that sometimes goes unsaid, unnoticed,overlooked, Not with Joe Girard. When
it comes to Brad Brunell. Coach, Rynell is a great relationship guy.

(26:55):
You know, that's what he kindof wants. He even preaches that to
us each and every day. Hewants us coming up walking through the office
talking, just saying hello, evenif it's not about basketball. And I
think that's what I love so muchabout him in the recruitment process is that
he was so adamant about that andhe wanted someone that he's going to be
able to, you know, talkto, like you said, for the
rest of your life. And youknow he's you know, basketball is a

(27:15):
fraternity almost and you know, youget to make these relationships with people,
and to have a relationship with coachBrownell, who many people don't realize.
He's like the third longest tenured coachin the AEC now and he's a legend
in his own right. So I'vebeen able to play for two great coaches
that you know, I'm lucky tohave a relationship with both. There he
is Joe Girard eighteen points in hisfirst trip back to Sarahcuse since transferring to

(27:37):
Clemson, five of six from thefield, great shot selection, great from
downtown, and as Brad Burdelle says, great efficiency. He loves the E
word. So a big win forClemson. They get back in line in
the ACC and they're ready to takeon Miami tonight. Let's take a look
at the top twenty five scoreboard fromlast night. Speaking of Syracuse. Tough
loss against Clemson last weekend, butthey bounced back in a big way last

(27:59):
night in that same arena up inSyracuse. The JMA Wireless Dome eighty six
seventy nine win over North Carolina.Hubert Davis's team going through a bit of
a rough patch here. As we'vetalked about on this show, a lot
of teams are going through said roughpatch. It's not just North Carolina.
It hasn't just been Kentucky or Tennessee. Every team, it seems in the

(28:21):
country has had this hiccup here orthere. But North Carolina goes down last
night. They are now nineteen andsix, eleven and three in the conference,
Marquette's number four in the country.They beat Butler seventy eight seventy two,
Number ten Iowa State took care ofCincinnati sixty eight to fifty nine.
Baylor rolls on at home and theirtwo hundred million dollars arena there seventy nine.

(28:41):
Baylor rolls on in big fashion downin Wacos seventy nine sixty two over
Oklahoma Number fourteen. Illinois beat Michiganlast night, the once proud Michigan Wolverines
ninety seven sixty eight. Michigan isthree and ten in the Big Ten right
now. While were great with Harballand all the fanfare with JJ McCarthy that

(29:03):
basketball program is lost right now.Illinois not so much. They are eighteen
and six and pick up their ninthwin in conference play, nearly hanging one
hundred burger on Michigan last night.How about the Dayton Flyers. They got
twenty wins under their belt with aseventy five fifty nine win over to Caine
last night. They're sixteenth in thecountry, number seventeen. Creighton rolls on
their eighteen and seven. They tookcare of Georgetown ninety four seventy two BYU

(29:26):
gets by UCF by two ninety toeighty eight. They've got six wins at
the Big twelve now Wisconsin sixty two, Ohio State fifty four, Wisconsin twentieth
in the country right now, andnumber twenty one. Virginia coming off some
interesting games of late loses to PittsburghJeff Capele's team, and this is another

(29:47):
testimony of the ACC the competitive balance, the ability to beat anybody on any
given day. That's a good pitteam going on the road in Charlottesville.
With Henson's twenty seven points last night, seventy four sixty three win, a
huge win for pitt and a toughloss for Virginia they're ten and four in
the ACC. Pitt moves to sevenand six number twenty two. Kentucky gets
back on track seventy five sixty threeover Old miss and number twenty three Indiana

(30:11):
State. Yes, that Indiana State. They lose to Illinois State, a
twelve win team last night at homeeighty to sixty seven. Indiana State was
twenty two to three coming into thisgame. Anything can happen on any given
night in the world of college hoops, and of course tonight you got a
few other games knocking around in termsof the top twenty five action here.

(30:33):
I had tip to our friends downthere in Columbia, La Mont Paris doing
a great job. They've got atwenty one to three record. The game
Cocks are nine to two in theSEC, and they've got a huge matchup
against Auburn tonight coming up at eightthirty SEC Network. Auburn's eight and three
Carolina. As I said, they'renine to two, huge matchup for SEC
standings and much much more as Carolinacan possibly break through into the top ten

(30:59):
here with a win. Number oneYukon takes on DePaul tonight. De Paul
is three and twenty. Yukon istwo and twenty two. Anything can happen,
Folks, nine pm on CBS SportsNetwork and Tennessee looking to write the
ship here a little bit. They'vehad some rocky waters, as have a
lot of teams. Seventeen and six, seven and three in the SEC.
They travel to Fayetteville to take onArkansas, a twelve win team. Right
now, that's nine pm on ESPNtwo and so look at the top twenty

(31:23):
five in college basketball coming up next. This is gonna be fun. He's
a birthday boy yesterday and today.He treats us to some great perspectives live
from Little John Coliseum. It's thevoice of the Clemson Tigers. Don Munson
will join us live here on theIngles Countdown to tip Off Show ninety two
point five WeSC Stay tuned, y'all. Ninety two point five wd S is

(31:47):
the Upstate's new home for the ClemsonTigers. Had a happy Valentine's Daddy all
out there getting ready for a littleClemson men's basketball tonight taking on Miami.

(32:09):
Want to wish a happy belated birthdayto our next guest. He is the
Don of Sports Talk, as wecall him on our sister station one O
four nine Fox Sports Upstate game onweekdays four pm. It's Don Munson who'll
be on the call tonight with JimDavis. Don. How you doing,
my friend? Happy belated birthday,sir, Thank you very much, certainly
appreciate that. Had a good day. Yeah. Wife knocked it out of

(32:31):
the park, so no problems there. How's thirty treating you pretty good?
Huh, it's pretty good. That'sdon think you it is? You know
what, look at guys like Belichick, Andy Reid still getting it done at
their age. Don Munson, youand I were talking about spotting you on
the court there via the ESPN feed, and you told me something interesting.

(32:52):
You said, you know what,it's great being courtside, but man,
I can't see a thing. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of being
on the court calling games. Imean I understand it from a you know,
if you're one of those court sideseats, you know where you don't
have anybody you know, really infront of you. And if you're down
there off the scorers table and buya bench, then you've got coaches,
you've got players, you got referees, you got everything. He was always

(33:15):
running in front of you and alwaysseems like you're you're looking through you through
but I shouldn't. I'm not gonnaline, I'm not gonna win the compt
world problems, John, first worldproblems. Don Monson joins the series.
He'll be calling the game tonight.Look, this was a compelling game for
so many reasons. Clemson needed tokeep their momentum going, getting a win
against a team who had been elevenand one at home, and the Joseph

(33:37):
Girard storyline. Gerard comes back hometo a few booze. I mean,
look, Brad Brunel said up forthe game, that surprised him a little
bit. I thought Gerard handled itwith class, and oh yeah, he
dropped eighteen points. What a nightfor Joe Gierard with his family there,
getting the two thousand points and gettingClemson another big win. He actually played

(33:58):
one of them, I thought,one of the small artist games I've seen
a player play. And I don'tknow how long John to be really honest
with you, because it would havebeen very easy to walk into that building
get booed. And it wasn't justa few boots. It was a lot
of boots and a smattering of apause. But he could have walked in
there and then he could have lookedaround and I'm going to show these these

(34:20):
people something. You know, I'mgonna jack it up. But he didn't
do that. He let everything cometo him. He didn't have his first
points in the game until like atthe eleven minute mark. Only shot the
ball six times. That made fiveshots, four of them outside the arc,
four to four of the free throwline, got the eighteen points.
So he got to score two twothousandth point in that building after scoring almost

(34:42):
seventeen hundred in that building, obviouslyin a Syracuse uniform. And you know,
afterwards you could just tell, Imean, you could just tell that
he was very proud of what heput together on the floor. He rebounded
well, he defended well, hadassisted and turned the ball over. I
mean, it was just a complete, real head game. And Don,
you had a front row seat toall of it, and I'm interested to

(35:04):
get your perspective on this. DonMunson joins this Clemson Athletic Network coming off
the heels of Clemson's big win atSyracuse. They both talked about it after
the game, Brunelle and Girard andthe postgame presser that the team really did
have Girard's back there and that madeGerard feel and he even expressed this in
the postgame press avail like he madethe right decision. It just confirmed everything.

(35:28):
And he also spoke glowingly about hisrelationship with Brad Burnell. If you
could take us behind the curtain inthat moment that you witnessed in that arena
and just the general perspective of therelationship between Brunell and Gerard, because it
sounds like those are two guys thatreally see eye to eye, you know,
Johnny, I think it went itactually goes all the way back to
the first time that Gerard kind ofstepped on campus when he was trying to

(35:51):
make a decision of where where hewas going to transfer to. And really,
you know, at that time,Clemson was obviously right there in the
mix. LSU was the next stopfor him, so Clemson knew that they
had to make a you know,a favorable impression upon him. And you
could just kind of tell that evenat that point in time that that coach
Brannell and Gerard just really hit itoff, but they they kind of understood

(36:15):
things. They went over They hungout with Sweeney for a while and I
don't think that hurt. You know, they got him over there in Sweeney's
gym and and Gerard was just bombing, you know, shots all over Coach
Sweeney, which was you know,have you known Coach Sweeney man and the
competitor in the he is, Butyou know it was even something just like
that, they kind of sold.I think it really sold Clemson to him,

(36:36):
and he realized, hey, Ican come here. This is totally
different from anything that I've heard beenaround. It's much more quiet, it's
laid back. But he felt likethat he could come here be a piece
of the puzzle that could lead Clemson, you know, into the NCAA's And
I think it's the team that ifthey can make it there, and I
believe they will, they can dosome damage in the NCAA tournament. I'm

(36:58):
with you, and I'm also withyou on this. There's a little bit
of a temperature difference in Syracuse andClemson, South Carolina this time of year.
That's another factor you consider when goingto that beautiful campus down there,
a campus you're familiar with the campusthat, of course PJ. Hall is
familiar with. And look, itwasn't his best game, even Brunelle,
and he's tough on his guys,said the big guys did not have their

(37:20):
best stuff that night. But again, the totality of what he's done.
And I want to take you backa couple of games, the big win
against North Carolina and there was amoment and I haven't talked to you since
there where PJ Hall had seen aplayer injured in the middle of the play
and I don't recall the player.Was it baycont or was it Ingram?
And he in the middle of theplays on he has the presence of mind

(37:44):
and the heart to say are youokay? And he's still playing and he's
still getting it done. He's probablythe best player in the ACC by my
account, he's one of the finestplayers and finest young men in the country.
But just speak about PJ Hall's progression. He's had so many injuries,
so many Hurtle, he's overcome andboy, it's been a great year for
PJ. Yeah, it really has. And I was one service or at

(38:07):
least something on One of the NPNwriters named PJ as his National Player of
the Week for what happened last weekwith the winds over North Carolina and Syracuse
but you know, Hall is aguy that you know, when he first
got here, I mean, hejust got I hated to put it this
way, but he got beaten upby a mere Simms. A mere Sims
took PJ. Hall kind of underhis wing, but in doing so,

(38:30):
he beat the youngster up. Imean, he showed him what it was
going to take for him to beable to get to where he is now,
and that he was going to haveto work. He was going to
have to, you know, getinto shape. It meant getting in the
weight room, it meant improving hisshot, it meant being tough. There's
a different type of toughness to PJ. Hall. But you're also right,
there was that moment where he waslike guarding I mean, he was like

(38:53):
literally making sure that no one couldget to Ingram and kind of guarding him
and hovering over him and then atand the play was over, you know,
making sure hey you okay and yeah, And obviously Harrison wasn't at that
point right now. He came backin later on the game hit a big
three, matter of fact, thethree that tied it at seventy as a
matter of fact, about four minutesto go. But you know that's just

(39:14):
who he is. And I thinkthat that is not only appreciated by by
coaches and fans and teammates of yourown team, but I think that's what's
appreciated across college basketball and certainly insidethe league. And you know, I
think the pja is is the playerof the year in this league. And
now he's got to finish it.He's he's got to finish it. And
that starts to night here against Miami. Miami's a good team. We've seen

(39:37):
them before. Jim Laernega has hisguys ready every single time they step on
the court against Clemson. We've seenit over the years. I want to
ask you this though, getting backto just the feeling again, there's two
components to sports. I always saythe analytics, stats, numbers, and
in the field. There's a realgood feel and vibe about this team.
And I know the conference play it'sbeen up and down, but again,

(39:58):
the net ranking is solid. RNow, I think there's positivity going to
tournament season. You can't count yourchickens for the hatch, but don I
can't remember a Clemson team and you'recloser than eye am to this team with
a better vibe right now, therejust seems to be really good vibes with
this team, do you agree.Well, it's funny because a week and
a half ago, I don't knowthat we would have said that. And

(40:21):
it's amazing. This is what happensin the game of basketball. Basketball is
such a long season, and youknow basketball, you can lose seven,
eight, nine games in a year. As long as you win the right
ones, then you're gonna make thetournament and you give yourself a chance to
go compete for a championship. It'snot that way obviously in football. But
you know, so you have yourebbs and flows in the basketball season comes

(40:45):
in's head has had a flow thatcame out. Man, November December was
as good as you could possibly imagine, and then January hit and it was
as bad as you possibly could imagine. Now you got back to back road
wins and so things are back onthe good slide. You need to keep
that slide going right now. Youknow, Clemson back to back wins,
and you need to sew what happenedlast night. I mean they were to

(41:07):
upset Scalore inside oh League. Thusn'tneed to protect their home floor here against
Miami and keep that good vibe goingbecause they got a streak here. They
can win these next two. Allof a sudden, you won four in
a row and you feel really good. You get two games above five hundred.
You're gonna be going to Atlanta playingGeorgia Tech a week beyond Wednesday,

(41:28):
this coming Wednesday. So that's aweek from today, and you know it's
it's amazing, but you have anopportunity, and now it becomes up to
you. What do you want?What can you do? You need to
impose your will on folks. Andwhen you start imposing your will, then
that's when the good stuff starts happening, no question about it. I think
the turning point was how they usethe Duke loss as fuel into Chapel Hill.

(41:52):
I really sense that. And againto get the big win at Syracuse,
a team that we know how goodthey are at home, and it's
electric there and there's a booze andthey're gonna let you know it and whatever
you think of that, that's atough place to play. That's a huge
win. And now let's turn ourattention real quick to Miami, a team
that a couple of games ago theygot the full treatment from Tony Bennett thirty

(42:13):
eight points in that game. Butlook, they came right back against North
Carolina, a narrow loss. Theygot back in the seventies there, and
they're scoring. Omir is a greatplayer of You've seen Miami a little bit,
you know, Larranega. Your thoughtson this matchup, well, I
mean you go back to the firsttime around against Miami. Obviously, they
put sixty on us in the secondhalf and made just about every imaginable shot

(42:35):
that there was to take. Andyou at that time, I was looking
at Miami schedule. Let's take agalley. Miami's gonna go like seventeen and
three in the league, eighteen andtwo, someone like that in the league.
And boy did that not happen.I mean, all of a sudden,
the wheels have kind of come off. But now you know they pointed
this game right, here's one thatcan get us back on the right side
of things. Miami right now outof contention, you know, for the

(43:00):
NCAA tournament. But this is agame that could get them right back in
it. And so you know that'sthat's what they can Now. Clemson comes
into it wanting to protect their homefloor and getting a little bit of revenge
against Miami. They obviously have todefend better. The defense in that game
at Miami was just absolutely horrific.So they've got they've got to defend this
Miami team better because this Miami teamcan shoot the basketball. It's the thirty

(43:23):
fifth meeting all time. Seventeen seventeenall square is the record. Somebody's got
to win tonight. There's no tiesin basketball, baby, and Don Monson
along with Jim Davis, will havethe call for you coming up on the
Clemson Athletic Network courtesy here at ninetytwo point five. W see it's Don
Munson stopping by and once again Don, Happy thirty first birthday, My friend,

(43:45):
you're the best. I appreciate it. John, thanks very much.
Always always go to visit with you, and certainly go Tigers. You're the
great, You're the best. DonMunson, Clemson Athletic Network. There he
goes, he is going to beon the call tonight. Keeping locked in
here on nine two point five.Weesc on your dial and you can hear
that call. You can hear allthe postgame action as well. We got

(44:05):
you covered on the pregame coming upnext. One last look at the matchup.
Richmond Weaver and I take a deepdive into the Miami Hurricanes and the
Clemson Tigers tipping off here in justa few short minutes. This is the
Ingles count Down, a tip offshow brought to you by Ingles Low Prices,
Love the Savings, Ingles, DashMarkets dot Com. John LS here
with you on a Wednesday night.Much more to come here on ninety two

(44:28):
point five WSC. Ninety two pointfive WDSC is the Upstate's new home for
the Clemson Tigers. Special thanks toour friend Don Munson who will be on

(44:53):
the mic here momentarily with our goodfriend Jim Davis down their life from Little
John calling the game for the ClemsonAthletic Network. You can catch it live
on Greenville's Home for Clemson Athletics andI Heard Radio's Home for Clemson athleticsnty two
point five WSC or anywhere you goon the iHeart Radio app. That's Richmond
Weaver. I'm John Ellis. We'regiving you a little bit of news and

(45:13):
notes in just a bit of ananalysis last minute here on this Miami team
as they're coming in with some confidence, but also like the rest of the
ACC trying to figure out what's goingon. I feel like the whole conference
is a bit dizzy right now,even the teams at the top. When
you look at this Miami team sofar. Obviously we saw what happened a
couple of games ago when we callthe Tony Bennett treatment. They scored thirty

(45:35):
eight in that game. They hadfourteen and a half. Seventeen and a
half? Was it? I mean, it's absolutely insane. I can't even
keep up with the numbers because it'sso absurd that you're saying thirty eight total
points. Yeah, for a Powerfive team that you're talking Nigel Pack or
Shad Omer. I mean, you'retalking about some talented guys on that team.

(45:59):
And to come out and lay anegg like that, I mean,
I know, give Virginia a lotof credit, but it's what they do,
my goodness. I mean, that'sembarrassing for Miami. And that's why
Jim layer Naga he decided that hewas going to walk off the press conference
and also during the time out.I know we've talked about it. He
just decided that, you know what, I'm just gonna sit here on the
bench. The team is out therehuddled up they can do their own thing.

(46:22):
In those moments. He looks likeBeeheim physically, and he reminded me
of Beheim in that moment. Hehad that saltiness about him, although they're
two different men entirely. But look, they're well coached and they're gonna get
better here. They've had a coupletough losses in a row. They played
better against North Carolina clearly than theydid against Virginia. You mentioned some of
the players they have on this team, Nigel Pack being won, and this

(46:42):
is the team Miami that's given Clemsonsome fits. Now, yes they have,
so buyer beware on this if you'reClemson. What does Clemson have to
do in this game Richmond to staveoff a very hungry Miami team that needs
this win. Yeah. I thinkpart of it is, obviously, can
you look back at what went wrongin that ninety five to eighty two loss,
And I think it was all abouta lack of defensive effort and just

(47:05):
allowing Miami to have open shots anduncontested perimeter shots that looked like they weren't
closing out how they should. Andso I think that's the aspect. Can
you get back to what we knowBrad Burnell what he loves emphasizing with his
team, and that's defense, andthe defensive effort I think is obviously going
to be the key here. Now, I would say when you look at

(47:29):
it from some specific fundamental things thatare going to have to happen, Clemson's
going to have to rebound the balland they're also going to have to shoot.
We again can easily say each andevery game, how easy this game
is. Just put the ball inthe hoop and you got a good chance
of winning. It's easier said thandone. Against Virginia, how it worked
right because nor shadow Mere is aguy that he's physically empowering at times,

(47:55):
and I think that's what Clemson hasto be careful of. Make sure that
you don't allow him to get thingsgoing like he did in that first series
or first matchup. I should say, and then PJ. Halls got to
play. I think Clemson is thebetter offensive team overall, but you're going
to have to play some solid defense. Yeah, the last time they met,
you mentioned all the scoring and theshooting, Nigel Pack leading the way.

(48:19):
It was the first time in Larranegastime in Miami that he had three
players scoring at least twenty three pointsin a single game. Were NBA numbers
put out here. Yes, youknow, Brunella and his staff aren't happy
about that. They're going to havethat on their bulletin board. As you
got Clemson Miami coming up. DonMunson, Jim Davis on the call.
Coming up here. On ninety twopoint five, weesc for Trey Falco from
my co host Richmond Weaver. I'mJohn Ellis. Enjoy the game tonight,

(48:43):
Have a happy Valentine's evening, y'all, and we'll see you next time.
On the Engles Countdown to tip OffShow ninety two point five, we sc