March 2, 2024 • 47 mins
The Tigers gear up to face down the Fighting Irish 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!
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(00:00):
We S E F M. Greenville, Spartanburg, Andersen. Time for the
Ingles Countdown to tip Off Show,brought to you pie Ingles Markets, Low
Prices, Love the Savings, BlueRidge Electric Cooperative, Harley Davidton of Greenville,
Rare Flooring Center, the Surgery Centerat Pella McGhee, Eating in air
pan by Palmeadow State Armory. NowHere are your hosts, shahn Alism,
(00:26):
Richmond and Weaver, And a happySaturday evening to each and every one of
you out there listening to us.Here on ninety two point five, weesc
getting you ready for another big Clemsonbasketball game. The twenty and eight Tigers
ten and seven in the ACC travelingto South Bend to take on the Notre
Dame Fighting Irish, a team thathas a lot of fight, a lot
(00:48):
of heart right now, and certainlyanother tough road test for Clemson. This
is the Ingles Countdown to tip OffShow. Welcome in. I'm John Ellis
along with Richmond Weaver and rich whatcan I tell you? Man the under
his turn and we are officially intoMarch. My friend Madness is here as
we have turned that calendar, asyou so eloquently just mentioned and yes,
(01:11):
here we are in March, andI'm still in shock that we're already here,
Like, where did the season go? Now? Are we talk about
that with football season? How fastfootball season goes from a weekend to weekend?
And obviously basketball is different because youhave midweek games, you have weekend
games, you have all of that, but it's still it flies by pretty
(01:34):
fast. As we are just acouple of weeks away from all of us
having our brackets and getting ready forthe NCAA Tournament, which you got to
be excited if you're a Clemson Tigerfan because it put the padlock on the
Tigers. They're in. They're in. No more this question like we had
last year with the Tigers make it. But here's the other side to it
(01:57):
now. I don't think that justmaking the NCAA Tournament is just the focal
point for the Clemson Tigers and Bradbron now, because I think at this
juncture of the season and how youhave played, and where you are right
now and the ACC standings and howyou can finish this season out, John,
(02:17):
why not go out and try towin an ACC tournament championship, which
the Tigers have never done in thehistory of the program. Yes, they've
had a regular season championship in theACC, but not a tournament championship.
And we know how important that isbecause that is obviously the automatic bid.
But that's a bonus at this pointbecause the Tigers are already in I'm just
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saying that, hey, why notgo after the ACC tournament championship because this
Tiger's team they can do that.Now, you have to still control your
destiny, win some of these games, and if you can finish in that
top four, that's a fantastic spotto be because as we's all be,
as we have always talked about,let me get this English language correct here,
(03:04):
it's the scenario of the double buyand how important that is. Yeah,
it's right there in front of him. Brad Burnell has referred to this
as the glob and is working itsway out of that glob. Coming up
next segment, you'll hear from BradBurnell. We've got some comments from him
following Clemson's big win and I meanbig win over Pitt There was a lot
of good vibes coming out of thatparticular game. We also got Don Munson
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joining us here a little rewind.He joined us a couple of days ago
on our sister station one O fourpoint nine Fox Sports Upstate, and Don
gave us some insights not only intoall that's going on with Clemson men's basketball,
but Rich, we can't sleep onthis. I know it's a basketball
show, but the NFL Combine's goingon right now. Yes, you got
Xavier Thomas about Ruca rower ro makingsome money. And Nate Wiggins, oh
(03:49):
boy, he was smoking on thatforty Now hopefully nothing major with the injury,
but yes, I think you knowthere's those scenarios play out that can
you have any certain advantage just toseparate yourselves from the others, and obviously
the NFL Combine that's why you dothat. But a great showing for the
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Clemson Tigers so far, no doubtabout it. We're good to be with
you as always. Here we're broughtto you by Ingles Low Prices love the
savings Ingles dash Markets dot Com.I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Also,
you got the Ingles so Coon BasketballChampionships coming up as well up in
Ashville. But you're taking a lookat that here. In a couple of
days, I will be helping out, Yes, doing some broadcasting. We're
(04:33):
going to do the Richmond Weaver Showon our sister station one O four nine
Fox Sports Upstate next Friday, andI know you'll be doing game on also,
and then I'll also be doing somecolor analysts work for the broadcast on
radio for the tournament itself. Soexcited about that just right there in Ashville.
And obviously are good friends at InglesMarkets and everything that they do,
(04:55):
not only for our stations, ourshows here in green Ville in the Upstate,
but also the tournament there for theSouthern Conference. They put on a
fantastic show and Ingles is a bigpart of it. And so we're excited
to be heading up to Ashville ina few days. Yeah. Gets it
all started their soconsports dot com.You can find out more about tickets and
(05:17):
packages available right now for the InglesSoacon Basketball Championships. All right, let's
take a few minutes and look backat what happened against Pitt for Clemson,
a sixty nine to sixty two win. You had a couple of players in
double double territory here with the chefcooking like he usually was. PJ Hall
got in some early foul trouble ashas been the case lately, he hadn't
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been practicing. That's been part ofthe problem there and Brad Burnea will talk
about that in the next segment withCoach Brunelle's comments. But just a complete
team effort and defensively, what ajob they did, in particular, one
guy that was highlighted by the coach, Jack Clark, getting it done defensively
and on the rebounding side against guyslike Blake Hinston, who was held to
six points in this game. Avery strong win for Clemson, no question.
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And you talk about Jack Clark andsince he's rejoined the starters in place
of Chauncey Wiggins, and that wasback on February the six against North Carolina,
Clemson's won six out of their lastseven, yep. And they're also
only allowing sixty six points per gamewith him as a starter, and before
that, Clemson was giving up almostseventy six points per game. So there
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is an aspect of what Jack Clarkbrings to the Tigers, not just from
a death perspective. Yes that's importantobviously, and maybe he's not contributing as
much offensively, but when you're ableto be in that situation, contributing defensively,
and we know how important defense isto Brad Burnell any of his teams
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historically. That's a big feather inthe cap of Jack Clark that he is
showcasing that scenario. And to beable to slow Blake Henson down, I
mean, that's what you have tobe very impressed with against Pittsburgh and this
was a guy who's one of thebest scorers in the ACC and to hold
him to a rough shooting night andobviously a season low. Kudos to Jack
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Clark and being able to put theclamps on Blake Kenson and knowing that this
game was so important John, becausethe Tigers are sitting there again trying to
climb the ladder in terms of theACC standings, but some things were out
of your control. And then whathappens. Wake Forest goes down, Yeah,
in c State goes down, andthose are big losses for those teams
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relative to the standings in the ACCand how that impacts Clemson. And so
now Clemson sitting there tied for forthwith wake Forest. So Clemson controls their
own destiny. You know, theyhave the opportunity and it starts tonight against
Notre Dame on the road. Hey, they really do. Clemson was down
by a game high ten points midwaythrough the first half. Pits started the
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game five of six from three.It was a hot start for Pitt and
a bit of a sloppy start forClemson in terms of turnovers and foul trouble.
Twelve four runs sent the Tigers intothe lead thirty nine thirty five to
begin the second half. Pit youknow, battles back here despite Hintson being
shut down for the most part.But then that seven to one run at
the end. You have the freethrows from Hall, the three pointer from
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Chase Hunter, and then that fastbreak dunk from the chef and chef sit
at home right there. Yes,And this is the other side too,
is that we've seen Clemson be ableto win some games where it hasn't been
pretty yep, and they haven't lookedefficient. But when you are able to
go seven to fifteen from beyond thearc, that's efficiency at its best.
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And John, you and I havebeen doing the show for a few years
now, and the one thing thatwe come back to, especially when you're
looking at three point shooting and theTigers, you know, they're not high
volume shooters from beyond the arc,and I think when they get into that
scenario where they try to become highvolume three point shooting team, that's when
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they struggle. And we've talked aboutthat. Once they get over that number
of attempts, when you're looking at, you know, plus twenty five attempts
for the Tigers, it just doesn'tseem to bode well offensively. And then
obviously how that would lead to avictory or not. But shooting fifteen three
pointers and winning by seven points,knowing that you only scored twenty seven points
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in the first half and you wereable to get things going there in the
second half for the Tigers against Pittsburgh, and I think that was imperative that
they were able to do that ina way that they didn't just rely on
the three point shot. They wereable to get things going down low twenty
eight points in the paint versus eighteenfor Pittsburgh, and that was one of
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the big factors while the Tigers wereable to get that victory big time when
Clemson gets it's their twentieth of theseason. Coming up next. Coach Brad
Burnell's comments after the game. We'llwalk through some of those with you.
He had some comments not only aboutJack Clark's play, Ian Chefflin's play.
PJ has some interesting comments about hisstar player, but getting the twenty wins,
What a big moment that was forthe program, once again reaching the
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milestone. Don Monson coming your wayas well. We'll speak with him in
a couple of segments and will breakdown Notre Dame. What are they all
about? Rich and I will beback in a minute here on the Ingles
count Down to tip Off show ninetytwo point five WSC ninety two point five
w SE is the Upstates new homefor a Clemson Tiger. Wishing each and
(10:46):
every one of y'all a happy Saturdayevening. The Ingles count Out a tip
Off Show continues, John Elis,Richmond Weaver here, get your primed and
ready for Clemson at Notre Dame.Tipping off shortly here seven four five to
be exact. Don Munson, TimBurray on the call. Don Munson will
join us here. Had a chanceto catch up with him earlier this week
(11:09):
on our sister station one O fourpoint nine Fox Sports Upstate, and it
was great to catch up with DonMunson shared some thoughts not only on Clemson's
men's basketball program and the journey thereon right now, but also everything that's
going on right now in the worldof Clemson football is spring practices underway,
the spring game is right around thecorner, and you've got the NFL scouting
(11:30):
combine happening with several key Clemson playersgetting after it this weekend. Looking forward
to catching up with Don Munson hereshortly on the show, we are brought
to you by Ingles Low Prices,Love the Savings, Ingles Dash Markets dot
Com. Don't forget this coming week, You've got the Ingles so Con Basketball
Championships. We will be live broadcastingfrom Harris Cherokee Center on one of four
(11:56):
point nine Fox Sports Upstate on IheartradioanWeaver Show at three pm and Game On
with John Ellis and Trey Falco atfour pm. That's coming up Friday,
the eighth of March. We're intoMarch, Baby, March Madness is here
and Ingles has you covered with theIngles SoCon Basketball Championships live from beautiful Ashville,
(12:18):
North Carolina. As we do fromtime to time, on the show,
we're going to reflect back on whathappened against Pitt Clemson with a big
win over the Panthers and an opportunityto revisit with Brad Burnell. He had
some comments after the game. Herewere coach Brenell's opening comments in his postgame
press conference. Well, that wasterrific win. I think Pitt's really good.
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I think Jeff's done a terrific jobwith their team and coaching them certainly,
but also just recruiting the pieces togetherand getting those guys to play.
They play really hard, and Imean they only had three turnovers in the
game. You know, that's justthat's well played. So we beat a
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really good team today. Obviously,they made shots early. I'm proud of
our guys. I thought our defensewas terrific, and you know, it's
been a lot better than I've probablygiven it credit for here for the last
month or so, and obviously that'sa big part of why we're having some
success. Obviously, the end ofthe half was huge, the plays down
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the stretch there at the end ofthe half to only be down four after
they start the game making a bunchof threes and we're having a little bit
of a hard time on offense,and then the second half was just I
thought we played good basketball for themost part on both ends. Again,
did our best defensively to make ithard on them, and I thought we
were aggressive and had a good mixto our game. So I thought Jack
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was phenomenal guarding Henson and just hadan unbelievable game defensively. Great to see
Josh Beadle come off the bench andmake a couple of big plays and just
provide a spark, which we allknow we can do. So this was
just a great team win against areally good team. And again this was
a good pit team, a teamthat still has a lot of potential to
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make the NCAA tournament. Here's anopportunity now for Clemson to go against a
team and Notre Dame and get theirtwenty first win. But looking back and
getting a win against Pitt, Brunelltalked about the value in getting that type
of win against a very good team. Yeah, I mean it does from
the standpoint of this as a tournamentteam, in my opinion, I mean,
they those guys can easily get inthe tournament win games, and so
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just competing well against teams like thisshould give us confidence and certainly great experiences.
And you know, it's really goodexperience for some of the guys that
you know, Josh Beatles and JackClark's and guys off our bench. You
know, obviously Ian with a hugethree. I thought Ian played very well
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again tonight. You know, someof our guys already made guys there,
Joe and Chase and PJ. Thosedudes are ready for anything. But some
of your other guys, these experiencesare vital to their confidence, and so
this was again hopefully a big confidencebuilder for some of them. One player
in particular who has been surging oflate has been Chase Hunter, a player
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that we know has a great story, has worked hard to get himself back
into prominence here in the lineup.Chase Hunter a big time game against pitt
with fifteen points, four of sevenfrom the field, perfect from the free
throw line. Here's a little commentaryfrom Brad Burnell on Chase Hunter's progression this
season. Yeah, it was abig one. They guarded our initial action
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very well. We moved it.Chase got the ball, we were in
space and there was some space there. I thought he was going to go
to the basket, but he backedthe guy up, and you know that's
a shot. He's made a littlebit this year, and he just made
it halftime against Florida State. It'sreally the same play, just kind of
a chop your feet attack move thata lot of guards make. You know,
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he's played really well these last threeweeks, just on both ends.
And I think, you know,I talked about this a lot last year,
that Chase, you're asking him todo a lot when you're the guarding
the point guard and you're dealing withall the ball screens on defense and you're
being pressured, and we got initiateoffense, and you know, he probably
played too much. He played thirtysix minutes. You know, I think
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that's that's probably four or five toomany to be as efficient as we want
you to be. But thankfully hewas up to it tonight because I thought
he was terrific. Now, youknow, when you go against Pitt,
one of the key cogs and theiroffensive machine is Blake Henson, who was
quite limited in this game. Andone player in particular stood out to coach
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Brenell as being one of the keysto keeping that very talented Henson in check
for forty minutes, and that wasJack Clark. Here's Brunell on Clark.
He's been a big help because ofthe rebounding. I mean, you think
about it when he had nine defensiverebounds, and then his ability to switch
and guard different people. I mean, his his his defense tonight was terrific.
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And you know, we've used himin a lot of different ways.
Probably the common person wouldn't know interms of being able to switch, and
he's guarded point guards. He switchedon to the center sum at Georgia Tech.
So yes, his versatility and hisexperience, I think, you know,
his experience is vital. He's justhe's an older guy that's played a
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lot of games, been through thewars. I mean, how about the
pass. He made a terrific passright, you don't even think about it,
but huge play. So I justthink he's been he's been very good.
And we talked about the stats earlier. Pitt had nine points off of
turnovers, Clemson only two. Thegame started slow for Clemson, especially in
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the first five minutes. There weresome mistakes earlier. Brunelle was asked about
these turnovers early in game. Howconcerned is he and what they're doing as
a team to help clean up thoseturnovers as we get into tournament season.
Now, well, we had acouple in our post players careless with outlet
passes, and I think a littlebit of that. Sometimes our guard like
Chase gets fatigued and sometimes should begetting it on the move. And I
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just think, you know, likePJ had one on an initiation of a
ball reversal with some things that Ithink sometimes the game like it takes him
first media to like he hadn't beenpracticing and so then all of a sudden,
the pace is so quick that he'sjust a half step behind on some
things. But we've just got tokeep working at it. You know,
you got to make decisions. You'vegot to be strong with the ball,
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and different teams are going to dodifferent things. They were heavy on pressure
on the wings, you know,we try to do some other things to
combat it. I thought it helpedus, but we did have a couple
of turnovers that you got to cleanup in games like this, and of
course not lost upon us and especiallyon coach Brunell in the entire program.
The team is now twenty and eight. Twenty wins is a bit of a
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milestone. We know, that's abig landmark to hit if you're a college
basketball program. Every single season here'scoach Brenell on the importance of reaching that
twenty win mark. Yeah. Absolutely, yeah, I think that's you know
whatever. We play thirty thirty onegames, thirty one regular season games.
To win twenty games this day andage college basketball hard to do. And
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you know, certainly credit goes tomy staff and players. Players win these
games with big time plays, andso yeah, I think it speaks to
consistency. Two years in a row, you know, maybe three out of
four in terms of really good winningpercentages. I just think we've you know,
I think our program has done verywell. We got things we got
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to keep moving on and try tokeep doing better and hopefully this is a
team can can take it to anotherlevel. But certainly I do think twenty
wins a significant Now, we allknow PJ. Hall one of the best
players in the country, certainly oneof the best in the ACC. Brenew
always offers up a very honest assessmentof each of his players, no matter
how good or bad things have been, and there's some frustration to a certain
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degree on PJ. Hall in termsof how he starts games here, especially
with the foul trouble. Here's aquick glimpse into Brad Banel's thinking in terms
of what's been going on with PJ, especially early in games. Yeah,
a little bit, just like acouple of careless plays like in the file.
You just can't do that, LikeI mean, drives me insane because
we've talked about it and he justhe loses his mind a little bit.
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And I love him dearly. Butwhen you're not out there every day and
you're not practicing walling and mos golfand these things that we do on defense,
you know you're a step behind.Now. I will say this down
to stretch, he was really good, you know. Offensive discipline was good
and uh that's part of what drivesme crazy is I know I need him
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at the end and he's over theresitting next to us with foul trouble and
it's like, hey man, wecan't can't be doing this, like you
know, you've got to we gotto win the war. You know,
you might have to lose a battlehere. And it's funny. In the
last game there was a play wherehe's in a little bit of foul trouble
again, had three and they kindof beat somebody and he was late getting
there and he was gonna come over. It was gonna be a foul,
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and he let him go and theyscored and it wasn't great, but better
than like an and one, Andhe's over here with four and so just
getting him to understand that you knowhis value, how important it is.
There are times and then you knowhis third file tonight, he's like,
found a guy passing the ball,Like, we don't need that one,
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Like it's not going to kill us. If that guy reversed it, We're
okay. Like, but he's founda guy passing the ball, like,
we don't need that one, Likeit's not going to kill us. If
that guy reversed it, We're okay. But he wants to play hard.
He's competitor. That's what I loveabout him. And again he had some
big baskets and big rebounds. Ithought his defense was good down a stretch.
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Now, certainly with that said,PJ. Hall closed the game out
well twelve points, ten rebounds,one of two players in this game to
get a double double. We'll talkabout the second one here in a minute,
but look, Senior Night is rightingaround the corner here for Clemson,
and Brunell couldn't help but take afew minutes talking about the respect he has
for Big Number twenty four PJ Hall, as well as the challenges that lie
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ahead in facing this Notre Dame teamtoday. I mean, I absolutely love
him. He's been an absolute joy. I'll get emotional if I talk about
it too long. I really will, because I'm gonna miss him more than
you know. He just cares abouteverybody, cares about our program, cares
about me, cares about his teammates, and I think he feels bad right
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now that he's not practicing. AndI mean it's just like it's genuine and
it's he doesn't want to let anybodydown, and so it's hard. He's
hard on himself, but he's anultimate program guy. I mean he just
whatever we need to do, hewants to do. And uh, I
mean he's been an absolute joy andI'm extremely grateful to coach him. Playing
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off of that kind of with therest. How big was to night in
the sense that you kind of keepthat goal in front of you that you
can get that double by yeah,I mean obviously it's you know, very
hard, but yeah, I meanit's this this win was big. Obviously
we've been tied with Pitt and nowwe got to go back on the road
and and uh Notre Dame is oneof the best defensive teams. I've watched
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their film a lot this year.They Mike is doing a terrific job.
They play extremely hard and they're hardhard to beat because they're hard to score
against. So that'll be that'll bea challenge. But this obviously keeps positive
momentum going, which is really good. And we're you know, day off
tomorrow, which is good for theplayers. I think we've gone about ten
(24:07):
days in a row in three gamesand seven days and so just a day
to kind of decompress and take adeep breath and get some guys in with
the trainers and do the things weneed to do there to hopefully get right
so we can get prepared properly forour next one. Now, one of
our favorite players we talk about forthis team, a guy that kind of
seems like one of us, hasthat blue collar mentality, plays with that
(24:32):
hard hat. It's Ian Shefflin,the chef who came up big in this
game against pitt fifteen points, twelverebounds, one of two players again who
had a double double for Clemson inthe big win over pitt Brenell had a
chance to talk about his thoughts onIan Shefflin and not just his physicality,
but how underrated he is as anathlete. He's a better athlete than people
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think, especially vertically, and obviouslyhe's got toughness and strength, you know.
And then what's fun is to seehim become a better basketball player,
like making a big time three,you know, backing a guy down and
scoring in the paint over top ofa good athlete. Those are big time
basketball plays, you know, andhe's really improved that. That's not something
(25:18):
that he really He's always been agood rebounder. He's always been a guy
that can pass a little bit,you know, but scoring and all the
other things not really what he's waswired to do. And obviously for his
development future of the program, that'sgonna be huge that he keeps taking those
steps. And you know, hewas terrific today, double double, I
(25:38):
mean, big time rebounds at theend of the game, like just yeah,
proud of him. And one thingthis team has done from time to
time stemming the tide from slow starts. We talked about the first five minutes
of this game being a bit ofa slow start. For Clemson. Pitt
had a ten point lead with aboutnine minutes left in the first half.
(26:00):
Coach Brenellan overcoming a slow start againstPitt and how important it is down the
stretch this season to continue those trends. Yeah, I think we just did
a better job of understanding and playersof understanding exactly how they were playing and
trying to attack it a little bitbetter, a little more efficient. I
(26:21):
think we got one or two intransition. Josh got a couple buckets driving
it, which we needed to continueto do. So, Yeah, again,
they played great. I mean thefirst beginning of the game, they
were it was they were. Theywere on fire, and they were they
had us on skates a little bit. They were moving it, and again
I'm so proud of our guys forbeing able to guard them as well as
(26:41):
we did. I mean, theyThe crazy stat in the game is they
took sixty one shots and we onlytook forty eight, so they got thirteen
more shots. That's usually not arecipe for success. So with too many
turnovers, and they got some offensiverebounds too, that's you know, and
they didn't turn the ball over.Hard to beat teams like that, you
(27:03):
really got to fight defensively, sothat means you got to get a lot
more stops, which we did,so that's why we won. So there
you have it. That is thehead coach of Clemson's men's basketball team,
Brad Burnell. Always good for someinsight in commentary. When we return momentarily,
we will reflect back on our conversationearlier this week on our sister station,
one of four point nine Fox SportsUpstate with the play by play voice
(27:26):
of the Clemson Tigers. It's DonMonson joining us here as we get you
set for a big game. Clemsongoing for win number twenty one, overall
win number eleven in a crowded accpack. Right now, it's the Tigers.
It's the Fighting Iris coming your way. Shortly, you've got it locked
into the ingles count down a tipoff show right here on ninety two point
five weesc ninety two point five wd S is the Upstate's new home with
(27:52):
a Clemson Tigers. It's all gonnabe with you all on this Saturday evening.
(28:14):
Get you're ready for Clemson Tiger basketballtaking on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Traveling with the South Bend always aninteresting venue in every single sport,
Clemson Tiger's Notre Dame Fighting Irish comingup here shortly on ninety two point five
WSC. You got Don Munson andTim Borey on the call. Speaking of
Don Munson, will join us heremomentarily. Had a chance to catch up
(28:38):
with Don a couple of days agoon our sister station one oh four point
nine Fox Sports Upstate. Don't forgetyou can catch the Richmond Weavers Show every
single weekday, three pm on thatfine station and then keep it locked in
yours truly, John Ellison, ourgood friend Trey Falco, the producer and
host extraordinary of many shows around hereon iHeartRadio, is the co host with
(28:59):
me, and we take you throughthe entire plethora of the world of sports.
I know football season is what welike to focus on mostly here at
times in the Southeast, but basketballseason is in full swing. Catch us
on one of four nine Fox SportsUpstate weekdays starting at three pm with the
Richmond Weavers Show and then game onwith John Ellis at four pm. Speaking
(29:21):
of which, basketball is here.March madness is here. It's the second
day of March. Starting to feela little more like it. Yesterday was
a dreary cold day, more reminiscentof February. But you got the twenty
twenty four Ingles Soacon Basketball Championships rightaround the corner. I want to find
out more, go to soconsports dotcom. This is proudly sponsored by our
(29:41):
friends at Ingles Low Prices. Lovethe savings and want to mention to you.
Also a programming note that yours truly, John Ellis, will be live
on site coming up on the eighth, which is this coming Friday, live
from the Harris Cherokee Center, broadcastingour show game on on one of four
nine Fox Sports Substate there. I'vechecking it all out. Richmond Weaver will
(30:02):
be there as well for the RichmondWeaver Show starting at three pm. Looking
forward to getting together with the goodfriends from the Southern Conference as always.
As I mentioned, we had achance earlier this week to catch up with
Don Munsen. Trey Falco and Idid, and we asked him a little
bit about Clemson basketball. This wasin the middle obviously of the NFL scouting
combine that's going on, and you'vegot some key Clemson players, including a
(30:25):
guy like Ruco Rororo, who hasmade himself a few dollars at this combine
with his athletic testing. Here heis Don Munson from a few days ago,
checking in with us not only onthe Clemson men's basketball journey right now,
but all that's going on in theNFL Combine as it relates to Clemson
football. It's the voice of theTigers. It's a man who knows some
(30:45):
of these guys, including Ruco Rooyep, and of course the man who
just ran a forty yard dash,a very good one in Xavier Thomas.
It's our friend, Don Munson.Welcome to the show on combine day,
My friend, I've got how almostshowed today. I would clock down at
about seven point two board. Butyou know what, you would look good
doing it, That's right. Hewould sound the should sound good though the
(31:08):
DUC wones he wouldn't miss a beat. He grabbed the mic says, all
right, kids, it's a sevenpoint two. We're back at it here.
Yes, I would not be upand at the end of that,
but uhud, be ready to go? How you been done? What's going
on in here? So first ofall, we'll get to basketball in a
minute, but spring practice here weare spring ball time. Yeah. Matter
(31:33):
of fact, that was u overobviously a practice yesterday, went over,
got my workout in in the inthe weight room, and so guys that
aren't in the combine for Clemson areover there working out today in the weight
room. So I was there withwith some fellow with some fellow pros as
they were they were going through things. So, uh, at that time
(31:55):
of the air or you spotting everything? It was spotting you don from there
playing a spring game and then withthat little downtime and away we go.
We're like, hey, but we'retwenty six weeks away from the NFL starting,
which means we're about twenty four saturdaysaway, yes, from having some
college football. The countdown is on. Don Munson joins us here from the
(32:15):
Clemson Athletic Network. Who was spottingyou in the weight room? Come on,
Oh, I don't need to spotit. I don't think spot spot
That's why he's the best. Okay, Don, let's talk some hoops.
Clemson. They continue their dominance OVERPID, at least recently, and it looks
(32:36):
to be, you know, headingtowards tournament time right now for this team.
Whereas last year there was a lotof consternation and a lot of different
guys stepping up lately, including guyslike Jack Clark and others. And it's
good to see this team. AlthoughPJ, you know, he's bounced back
and forth here. We know he'sone of the best players in the country,
but when his game has been alittle bit off kilter, at least
by his own standards, you've seensome guys step up in this lineup.
What a great job lately by thisTigers team. Yeah, it's been a
(33:00):
It's really has been a complete teameffort. The thing that dois really carried
this ball club and winning six ofthe last seven has been their defense.
I mean, they just absolutely putthe cliamps on on Fitt and the second
half Will held them to twenty eightpercent shooting. Hunston shot fifty six percent
in the second half of the othernight in the racing that four point deficit
(33:22):
and winning it by seven points.So now you go to Notre Dame and
Notre Dame club that kind of likePitt, they're playing their best basketball the
year coming into this. They've they'vewon for their last five and defensively they
are way better than people want togive them credit for. So it's gonna
be a tough matchup in South benWake Forrest found that out the other night.
(33:45):
Hopefully Clemson took notice and and justgot to win by a point.
There, boys, just got tofigure out a way to win by a
point and get out of there.Yeah, it's a beautiful thing about It
is no style points really at thispoint. It's it's about, you know,
getting to win and advancing and continuingto chase not only the four seed
in the ACC but also set yourselfup for premium position in the tournament.
Whereas this time last year there wasa lot of doubt, a lot of
(34:07):
consternation. It turned out to befrom a lot of people's estimation, a
snub and it you know, itdidn't end well. But as we turn
the page, of course, wegot coverage coming up on w SC on
Saturday, the English Countdown to tipOff show giving you pregame coverage here on
iHeartRadio in advance of Don Munson.Is Tim gonna be with you on the
call there? I hope. Soif it's a Notre Damn game, can't
(34:27):
miss that. Oh yeah, theKing of Notre Dame is definitely going to
be there. Yes, we weable to get the red carpet treatment with
brother. Yes, he will bewith us on the call. All right,
So let me ask you about theseguys we're seeing today for Clemson.
We'll talk about some more guys laterthat are at the combine. Obviously,
Will Shipley is a guy I'm keepingmy eye on. But Xavier Thomas,
(34:49):
Ruker Rower Road Tyler Davis. Justa word about those three individuals, not
only from a personal side, butfrom a football side. You've seen him
up close and personal. So ifwe but we want to get your perspective
on those three special defensive lineman thatClinton has now graduated into the NFL.
Yeah, so I so what didX team run in the forties? What
was his forty times? The firstone four point six three? Not bad?
(35:12):
So yeah, that's that's uh,you know, so that's pretty elite.
From from that standpoint, maybe youknow, maybe the second time too,
he can cut that down into thefour to five range. If he
does that, then that will certainlymake a lot of scouts uh pop their
eyes a little bit, because youjust don't have that kind of speed that
that comes off the edge. Uh. From from that standpoint, although I
(35:34):
think a lot of people may beprojecting him as more of an outside linebacker
kind of guy, uh in athree to fourth set than the necessarily a
guy that's gonna play in a fourto three and a be insestan to see
you know who drafts him and wherehe goes. But I think that Xt
has got a shot to to makean impact on a team uh In,
you know in the on the professionallevel, you know a Row Row Row
(35:57):
and Davis. I love both ofthose guys. I think that they're really
both of those guys wherever they gocan be real impacts on teams. And
it doesn't matter where they go.They don't have to go to a certain
team to have an impact. Ithink they can go right away someplace and
have an immediate impact. And Iwouldn't it wouldn't shock me to see those
(36:20):
guys not be day ones because Idon't think there their first round kind of
talent, although it only takes oneteam to fall in love, but definitely
second day guys that can go inthe second and third rounds. Yeah,
I love Aroo, I love allthose guys. But they're comparing him to
Justin Mattobuke lan Zerline FROMNFL dot Com, and I like that comp He's a
guy that can do a lot ofthings on the defensive line, and we
saw him emerge I would say abouta year and a half two years ago
(36:45):
in that defensive line rotation. Andit's just it's defensive line, you,
I mean, they just keep producingsuch great talent. And I'm seeing the
new recruits that are coming in beingranked by rivals and others as the top
class in terms of replenishing the cabinetthere. Talk about that with new coach
Rump, who's been around for awhile, back in the mix, they're
coaching up more defensive line prospects.Now, yeah, no, no doubt
(37:07):
I saw that that that today whereour defensive line group is listed as number
one coming in uh as A asa new freshman class, which has everybody
excited. And there's already a lotof talent that is that is here on
campus. But I think getting coachRump back getting also coached loop that you
and nothing against the guys that werehere, right, nothing against the guys,
(37:29):
but what you get is just vetteringguys that have coached it up.
They've proven it before, they putpeople in the league, and they're going
to continue to put people in theleague. And in this day and age
of where we are, uh,you know, in the in the day
of the nil, the day totransfer portal and all that kind of stuff.
(37:50):
Kids that want to come and play, they want to be coached up
by guys that know they can getthem to the promised Land, get them
to that point. And both ofthese guys I think are gonna make immediate
They've already made immediate impacts. They'regonna make long lasting impacts on Clemson football.
Don Munson is the voice of theClemson Athletic Network, and Don,
before we let you go, Ijust want to not quiz you. But
(38:13):
you probably know this. If youdon't, shame on you. I'm kidding.
I'm kidding. Hunter Tyson. HunterTyson hit his first career three pointer
last night for the Denver Nuggets.How about that? How about that?
Yeah? That was that was great. The SEIZUS. He's on the US
on that contract that allows them toflip him up to the NBA team,
put him back down to the GLeague team. He's still making great he's
(38:35):
still making some great money being ableto do that. But I think it's
just a matter of time for hunterTyson to be fully in the in the
NBA, and I think that's theway the Nuggets feel about him. When
they drafted him, they knew.I think they kind of knew, but
I think they're really finding out justexactly what they drafted in Hunter Tyson.
I think that's gonna be a guythat's gonna stick around and play in the
(39:00):
in the NBA, you know,for somewhere around eight to twelve years.
I really think a barring injury,that he can have that kind of impact
with a ball club and and reallyhave an impact on Clemson basketball by doing
such. And it'll be interesting towatch him. But there's not a better
There's not a better young man thathas come through this program than than Hunter
Tyson. No doubt about his formerteam, the Clemson Tigers, looking to
(39:22):
extend the winning streak to four.Don Munson Tim Berray will be on the
call in South Bend for that gameon Saturday. You can catch it on
our sister station, w SC ninetytwo point five and all across the Clemson
Athletic Network. Don Munson checking inon a combine Thursday. Good the man.
All right, boys, Hey,pretty pebble is still good. She
(39:44):
is done. She is Thank youfor asking. We heal sugar snaps is
right there, so oh yeah,take care of them both. Remember those
ladies in your life. You gottatake care of him. Bubba, absolutely
done. Don Munson our hero.He's a hoot. He's a hoot.
Don Munson, Clemson Athletic Network's Voiceof the Tigers. And I've told this
(40:06):
story many times. Don Munson andI go way back. I used to
walk the halls of what was thenWhistle one hundred, way way back in
the day, and Don Munson wouldbe kicking around doing some work on one
of the AM stations here in thisbuilding. And Don was a guy that
I looked up to. And it'sjust such a pleasure. And Don will
always tell you, he'll always tellyou if you call him the voice of
(40:28):
the Clemson Tigers, will say,no, no, no, that's not
me. That's the late great JimPhillips. And who can forget the great
dulcin tones of one Jim Phillips.A lot of college hoops going on right
now. You've got some action tippingoff in the top twenty five here.
Shortly Duke in Virginia are underway rightnow. You've got UCLA at Washington State
coming up. Here in just afew minutes, Houston at Oklahoma. Number
(40:51):
one Houston tips off at eight pmin Norman, Michigan State, traveling the
number two Purdue with Zach Edy stilldominated things in the country right now.
That's at Mackie Arena, coming upeight pm on Fox, number four,
Tennessee. They've had a strange season, They've had some ups and downs,
but here they are at twelve andthree in the Southeastern Conference. Taken on
(41:12):
another twelve and three team, ateam that Clemson beat earlier this season,
number fourteen Alabama. They tip offat a pm on ESPN. And then
you've got the Zags Gonzaga traveling toSaint Mary's underrated game here, number seventeen
Saint Mary's, number twenty three Gonzaga. That tip off is at ten pm
for U Night Owls out there onESPN and ESPN Plus up there live from
(41:36):
Saint Mary's. Going to take youthrough some of the key matchups between Clemson
and Notre Dame here shortly around theACC. You got some big time games
tipping off around the country right now, and of course tonight you've got Syracuse
Louisville tipping off at APM. Pittand Boston College, you're underway, Pitt
of course, with nine wins inthe ACC, still tangling in what Brad
Burnell has called that glob So we'regonna see a lot of fascinating storylines here
(42:00):
over the next few days unfold betweenthis Clemson team and those teams that are
log jammed up in that top fourbattling for that double buy. But as
Brad Brunel has talked about, asagain Don Munson has talked about, and
so many people down there with thatprogram have talked about, handle your business
here on out and things should workout just fine. It's interesting to look
(42:22):
back and juxtapose where they are nowversus last season, where Clemson was pushing
for twenty wins. They got tothat plateau, but once again there was
a feeling of consternation, a feelingof doubt leading up to tournament selection time,
and certainly that proved to be thecase as they were left out and
left in the nit field. Itlooks very promising for Clemson right now,
(42:45):
as bracketology and other analysts have themvery well fixed within that five or six
seed position, maybe even better aswe get into the ACC tournament here.
Surely, but It's Clemson Notre Damelive from South Bend, coming your way
here, seven forty five tip off. Don Munson, Tim Beret on the
call. When we return, RichmondWeaver and I take you through a final
(43:07):
few looks at this Notre Dame team, some of the key matchups, things
to look for tonight if you getit. Locked into the Ingles Countdown,
a tip off show probably sponsored byour friends at Ingles Low prices, Love
the Savings, John Elis Richmond Weavertaking you all the way up to network
coverage here on ninety two point fiveWSC. Ninety two point five WDS is
(43:29):
the Upstate's new home for the ClemsonTigers. Getting a set for Clemson Notre
(43:54):
Dame coming up at seven forty five. Don Munson, Tim Berat on the
call. It's Engles count Down totip off show wrapping up here John Ellis,
Richmond Weavers. Were taking a lookat Notre Dame, a little bit
about these matchups. A team inthe fighting Irish Richmond that look. They've
struggled this year overall, but oflate, especially the back half of February,
put up some big wins, especiallythe one you talked about earlier against
(44:15):
Wake Forest. Yeah, and thiswas a Wake Forest team that was coming
in feeling pretty confident after the bigvictory at home against Duke. And obviously
we know how that played out,just the controversy court storming Kyle Philipowski who
did play after that incident there.So I guess that knee or ankle was
(44:36):
not as bad as was led tobelieve right after. Yes, I think
it did work out okay. Butthis is a Notre Dame team. Yes,
I know they haven't been able tobeat some of the top tier teams
necessarily over their last few games,but they're still winning games. And again,
that was a big victory against NotreDame. So this is a dangerous
(44:58):
team. And John, how manytimes have we talked about it. It's
on the road, on the road, conference games on the road, and
we've seen it. The chaos thathas played out in college basketball this year
is unprecedented, especially with teams inthe top twenty five or you know,
teams that are competing for the topspots in each of their conferences respectively.
(45:19):
Yeah, no doubt about it.That's been the story of the ACC this
year. When you think you've gotthings figured out, not so fast.
My friend I was looking at bracketologya minute ago for Clemson and right now
Joe Lonardi, And this is alwayssubject to change by the hour, but
as of Saturday afternoon, looks likethe matchup would be against your namesake Richmond.
Yeah, there we go, theSpiders and the Spiders. Hey,
(45:40):
the Spiders can be very dangerous.We saw them have some several upsets over
the years. So Notre Dame,when you get right down to it,
look at what their most recent winwas all about. You had a career
high from Marcus Burton, the freshman, thirty one points, and Carrie Booth
kicked in fifteen points. So certainlythey had the fire against a good team
like Wake Forest to put up points. I don't want to say trap game.
(46:04):
When you go to Notre Dame.It's a weird environment in a lot
of ways because it's a football environmentwhen you go there first, but you
don't think basketball all of a sudden, you sucked into a road game of
the ACC. Anything is possible,Oh, yes it is. Anything is
possible. And Marcus Burton averaging almosttwenty one points per game, he's definitely
a guy who is playing at anelite level, right now, but this
(46:27):
is a Notre Dame team that theystill have their struggles and this is a
game where Clemson has to go inthere and come out and not falling behind
early. It's going to be imperativeon the road that you can have that
opportunity of getting some things going onearly. And a lot of it has
to do with can Chase Hunter andJoseph Gerard the third Can they still play
at an elite level in that backcourt? And then PJ. Hall will see
(46:52):
how he's feeling, see how hislegs are, because I think that's a
big part of it too. Butthey have nobody that can defend PJ.
Hall. Well, it's going tobe interesting to watch and listen to as
well. You can keep it righthere locked into ninety two point five wesc's
You have the Clemson Athletic Networks coveragecoming up here in just a few short
moments, Don Munson and Tim Burraytakeover. Don't forget, by the way,
(47:14):
You've got the Ingles Soacon Basketball Championshipscoming up, brought to you by
our title sponsor, Ingles. Lowprices, love the savings. Go to
soconsports dot com find out more aboutticket information. It's going to be a
great time up in Nashville. Weencourage you to check that out as well.
For Richmond Weaver, for our buddyTrey Falco, For Don Munson,
this is John Ellis. Thanks forlistening to The Ingles Countdown, a tip
(47:35):
off show. We appreciate you guysas always. Have a great rest of
your weekend and enjoy tonight's game righthere on ninety two point five WSC
We S E F M. Greenville, Spartanburg, Andersen. Time for the
Ingles Countdown to tip Off Show,brought to you pie Ingles Markets, Low
Prices, Love the Savings, BlueRidge Electric Cooperative, Harley Davidton of Greenville,
Rare Flooring Center, the Surgery Centerat Pella McGhee, Eating in air
pan by Palmeadow State Armory. NowHere are your hosts, shahn Alism,
(00:26):
Richmond and Weaver, And a happySaturday evening to each and every one of
you out there listening to us.Here on ninety two point five, weesc
getting you ready for another big Clemsonbasketball game. The twenty and eight Tigers
ten and seven in the ACC travelingto South Bend to take on the Notre
Dame Fighting Irish, a team thathas a lot of fight, a lot
(00:48):
of heart right now, and certainlyanother tough road test for Clemson. This
is the Ingles Countdown to tip OffShow. Welcome in. I'm John Ellis
along with Richmond Weaver and rich whatcan I tell you? Man the under
his turn and we are officially intoMarch. My friend Madness is here as
we have turned that calendar, asyou so eloquently just mentioned and yes,
(01:11):
here we are in March, andI'm still in shock that we're already here,
Like, where did the season go? Now? Are we talk about
that with football season? How fastfootball season goes from a weekend to weekend?
And obviously basketball is different because youhave midweek games, you have weekend
games, you have all of that, but it's still it flies by pretty
(01:34):
fast. As we are just acouple of weeks away from all of us
having our brackets and getting ready forthe NCAA Tournament, which you got to
be excited if you're a Clemson Tigerfan because it put the padlock on the
Tigers. They're in. They're in. No more this question like we had
last year with the Tigers make it. But here's the other side to it
(01:57):
now. I don't think that justmaking the NCAA Tournament is just the focal
point for the Clemson Tigers and Bradbron now, because I think at this
juncture of the season and how youhave played, and where you are right
now and the ACC standings and howyou can finish this season out, John,
(02:17):
why not go out and try towin an ACC tournament championship, which
the Tigers have never done in thehistory of the program. Yes, they've
had a regular season championship in theACC, but not a tournament championship.
And we know how important that isbecause that is obviously the automatic bid.
But that's a bonus at this pointbecause the Tigers are already in I'm just
(02:42):
saying that, hey, why notgo after the ACC tournament championship because this
Tiger's team they can do that.Now, you have to still control your
destiny, win some of these games, and if you can finish in that
top four, that's a fantastic spotto be because as we's all be,
as we have always talked about,let me get this English language correct here,
(03:04):
it's the scenario of the double buyand how important that is. Yeah,
it's right there in front of him. Brad Burnell has referred to this
as the glob and is working itsway out of that glob. Coming up
next segment, you'll hear from BradBurnell. We've got some comments from him
following Clemson's big win and I meanbig win over Pitt There was a lot
of good vibes coming out of thatparticular game. We also got Don Munson
(03:28):
joining us here a little rewind.He joined us a couple of days ago
on our sister station one O fourpoint nine Fox Sports Upstate, and Don
gave us some insights not only intoall that's going on with Clemson men's basketball,
but Rich, we can't sleep onthis. I know it's a basketball
show, but the NFL Combine's goingon right now. Yes, you got
Xavier Thomas about Ruca rower ro makingsome money. And Nate Wiggins, oh
(03:49):
boy, he was smoking on thatforty Now hopefully nothing major with the injury,
but yes, I think you knowthere's those scenarios play out that can
you have any certain advantage just toseparate yourselves from the others, and obviously
the NFL Combine that's why you dothat. But a great showing for the
(04:11):
Clemson Tigers so far, no doubtabout it. We're good to be with
you as always. Here we're broughtto you by Ingles Low Prices love the
savings Ingles dash Markets dot Com.I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Also,
you got the Ingles so Coon BasketballChampionships coming up as well up in
Ashville. But you're taking a lookat that here. In a couple of
days, I will be helping out, Yes, doing some broadcasting. We're
(04:33):
going to do the Richmond Weaver Showon our sister station one O four nine
Fox Sports Upstate next Friday, andI know you'll be doing game on also,
and then I'll also be doing somecolor analysts work for the broadcast on
radio for the tournament itself. Soexcited about that just right there in Ashville.
And obviously are good friends at InglesMarkets and everything that they do,
(04:55):
not only for our stations, ourshows here in green Ville in the Upstate,
but also the tournament there for theSouthern Conference. They put on a
fantastic show and Ingles is a bigpart of it. And so we're excited
to be heading up to Ashville ina few days. Yeah. Gets it
all started their soconsports dot com.You can find out more about tickets and
(05:17):
packages available right now for the InglesSoacon Basketball Championships. All right, let's
take a few minutes and look backat what happened against Pitt for Clemson,
a sixty nine to sixty two win. You had a couple of players in
double double territory here with the chefcooking like he usually was. PJ Hall
got in some early foul trouble ashas been the case lately, he hadn't
(05:38):
been practicing. That's been part ofthe problem there and Brad Burnea will talk
about that in the next segment withCoach Brunelle's comments. But just a complete
team effort and defensively, what ajob they did, in particular, one
guy that was highlighted by the coach, Jack Clark, getting it done defensively
and on the rebounding side against guyslike Blake Hinston, who was held to
six points in this game. Avery strong win for Clemson, no question.
(06:02):
And you talk about Jack Clark andsince he's rejoined the starters in place
of Chauncey Wiggins, and that wasback on February the six against North Carolina,
Clemson's won six out of their lastseven, yep. And they're also
only allowing sixty six points per gamewith him as a starter, and before
that, Clemson was giving up almostseventy six points per game. So there
(06:25):
is an aspect of what Jack Clarkbrings to the Tigers, not just from
a death perspective. Yes that's importantobviously, and maybe he's not contributing as
much offensively, but when you're ableto be in that situation, contributing defensively,
and we know how important defense isto Brad Burnell any of his teams
(06:46):
historically. That's a big feather inthe cap of Jack Clark that he is
showcasing that scenario. And to beable to slow Blake Henson down, I
mean, that's what you have tobe very impressed with against Pittsburgh and this
was a guy who's one of thebest scorers in the ACC and to hold
him to a rough shooting night andobviously a season low. Kudos to Jack
(07:11):
Clark and being able to put theclamps on Blake Kenson and knowing that this
game was so important John, becausethe Tigers are sitting there again trying to
climb the ladder in terms of theACC standings, but some things were out
of your control. And then whathappens. Wake Forest goes down, Yeah,
in c State goes down, andthose are big losses for those teams
(07:36):
relative to the standings in the ACCand how that impacts Clemson. And so
now Clemson sitting there tied for forthwith wake Forest. So Clemson controls their
own destiny. You know, theyhave the opportunity and it starts tonight against
Notre Dame on the road. Hey, they really do. Clemson was down
by a game high ten points midwaythrough the first half. Pits started the
(07:57):
game five of six from three.It was a hot start for Pitt and
a bit of a sloppy start forClemson in terms of turnovers and foul trouble.
Twelve four runs sent the Tigers intothe lead thirty nine thirty five to
begin the second half. Pit youknow, battles back here despite Hintson being
shut down for the most part.But then that seven to one run at
the end. You have the freethrows from Hall, the three pointer from
(08:20):
Chase Hunter, and then that fastbreak dunk from the chef and chef sit
at home right there. Yes,And this is the other side too,
is that we've seen Clemson be ableto win some games where it hasn't been
pretty yep, and they haven't lookedefficient. But when you are able to
go seven to fifteen from beyond thearc, that's efficiency at its best.
(08:46):
And John, you and I havebeen doing the show for a few years
now, and the one thing thatwe come back to, especially when you're
looking at three point shooting and theTigers, you know, they're not high
volume shooters from beyond the arc,and I think when they get into that
scenario where they try to become highvolume three point shooting team, that's when
(09:09):
they struggle. And we've talked aboutthat. Once they get over that number
of attempts, when you're looking at, you know, plus twenty five attempts
for the Tigers, it just doesn'tseem to bode well offensively. And then
obviously how that would lead to avictory or not. But shooting fifteen three
pointers and winning by seven points,knowing that you only scored twenty seven points
(09:33):
in the first half and you wereable to get things going there in the
second half for the Tigers against Pittsburgh, and I think that was imperative that
they were able to do that ina way that they didn't just rely on
the three point shot. They wereable to get things going down low twenty
eight points in the paint versus eighteenfor Pittsburgh, and that was one of
(09:54):
the big factors while the Tigers wereable to get that victory big time when
Clemson gets it's their twentieth of theseason. Coming up next. Coach Brad
Burnell's comments after the game. We'llwalk through some of those with you.
He had some comments not only aboutJack Clark's play, Ian Chefflin's play.
PJ has some interesting comments about hisstar player, but getting the twenty wins,
What a big moment that was forthe program, once again reaching the
(10:16):
milestone. Don Monson coming your wayas well. We'll speak with him in
a couple of segments and will breakdown Notre Dame. What are they all
about? Rich and I will beback in a minute here on the Ingles
count Down to tip Off show ninetytwo point five WSC ninety two point five
w SE is the Upstates new homefor a Clemson Tiger. Wishing each and
(10:46):
every one of y'all a happy Saturdayevening. The Ingles count Out a tip
Off Show continues, John Elis,Richmond Weaver here, get your primed and
ready for Clemson at Notre Dame.Tipping off shortly here seven four five to
be exact. Don Munson, TimBurray on the call. Don Munson will
join us here. Had a chanceto catch up with him earlier this week
(11:09):
on our sister station one O fourpoint nine Fox Sports Upstate, and it
was great to catch up with DonMunson shared some thoughts not only on Clemson's
men's basketball program and the journey thereon right now, but also everything that's
going on right now in the worldof Clemson football is spring practices underway,
the spring game is right around thecorner, and you've got the NFL scouting
(11:30):
combine happening with several key Clemson playersgetting after it this weekend. Looking forward
to catching up with Don Munson hereshortly on the show, we are brought
to you by Ingles Low Prices,Love the Savings, Ingles Dash Markets dot
Com. Don't forget this coming week, You've got the Ingles so Con Basketball
Championships. We will be live broadcastingfrom Harris Cherokee Center on one of four
(11:56):
point nine Fox Sports Upstate on IheartradioanWeaver Show at three pm and Game On
with John Ellis and Trey Falco atfour pm. That's coming up Friday,
the eighth of March. We're intoMarch, Baby, March Madness is here
and Ingles has you covered with theIngles SoCon Basketball Championships live from beautiful Ashville,
(12:18):
North Carolina. As we do fromtime to time, on the show,
we're going to reflect back on whathappened against Pitt Clemson with a big
win over the Panthers and an opportunityto revisit with Brad Burnell. He had
some comments after the game. Herewere coach Brenell's opening comments in his postgame
press conference. Well, that wasterrific win. I think Pitt's really good.
(12:43):
I think Jeff's done a terrific jobwith their team and coaching them certainly,
but also just recruiting the pieces togetherand getting those guys to play.
They play really hard, and Imean they only had three turnovers in the
game. You know, that's justthat's well played. So we beat a
(13:03):
really good team today. Obviously,they made shots early. I'm proud of
our guys. I thought our defensewas terrific, and you know, it's
been a lot better than I've probablygiven it credit for here for the last
month or so, and obviously that'sa big part of why we're having some
success. Obviously, the end ofthe half was huge, the plays down
(13:26):
the stretch there at the end ofthe half to only be down four after
they start the game making a bunchof threes and we're having a little bit
of a hard time on offense,and then the second half was just I
thought we played good basketball for themost part on both ends. Again,
did our best defensively to make ithard on them, and I thought we
were aggressive and had a good mixto our game. So I thought Jack
(13:50):
was phenomenal guarding Henson and just hadan unbelievable game defensively. Great to see
Josh Beadle come off the bench andmake a couple of big plays and just
provide a spark, which we allknow we can do. So this was
just a great team win against areally good team. And again this was
a good pit team, a teamthat still has a lot of potential to
(14:11):
make the NCAA tournament. Here's anopportunity now for Clemson to go against a
team and Notre Dame and get theirtwenty first win. But looking back and
getting a win against Pitt, Brunelltalked about the value in getting that type
of win against a very good team. Yeah, I mean it does from
the standpoint of this as a tournamentteam, in my opinion, I mean,
they those guys can easily get inthe tournament win games, and so
(14:35):
just competing well against teams like thisshould give us confidence and certainly great experiences.
And you know, it's really goodexperience for some of the guys that
you know, Josh Beatles and JackClark's and guys off our bench. You
know, obviously Ian with a hugethree. I thought Ian played very well
(14:56):
again tonight. You know, someof our guys already made guys there,
Joe and Chase and PJ. Thosedudes are ready for anything. But some
of your other guys, these experiencesare vital to their confidence, and so
this was again hopefully a big confidencebuilder for some of them. One player
in particular who has been surging oflate has been Chase Hunter, a player
(15:20):
that we know has a great story, has worked hard to get himself back
into prominence here in the lineup.Chase Hunter a big time game against pitt
with fifteen points, four of sevenfrom the field, perfect from the free
throw line. Here's a little commentaryfrom Brad Burnell on Chase Hunter's progression this
season. Yeah, it was abig one. They guarded our initial action
(15:43):
very well. We moved it.Chase got the ball, we were in
space and there was some space there. I thought he was going to go
to the basket, but he backedthe guy up, and you know that's
a shot. He's made a littlebit this year, and he just made
it halftime against Florida State. It'sreally the same play, just kind of
a chop your feet attack move thata lot of guards make. You know,
(16:03):
he's played really well these last threeweeks, just on both ends.
And I think, you know,I talked about this a lot last year,
that Chase, you're asking him todo a lot when you're the guarding
the point guard and you're dealing withall the ball screens on defense and you're
being pressured, and we got initiateoffense, and you know, he probably
played too much. He played thirtysix minutes. You know, I think
(16:25):
that's that's probably four or five toomany to be as efficient as we want
you to be. But thankfully hewas up to it tonight because I thought
he was terrific. Now, youknow, when you go against Pitt,
one of the key cogs and theiroffensive machine is Blake Henson, who was
quite limited in this game. Andone player in particular stood out to coach
(16:47):
Brenell as being one of the keysto keeping that very talented Henson in check
for forty minutes, and that wasJack Clark. Here's Brunell on Clark.
He's been a big help because ofthe rebounding. I mean, you think
about it when he had nine defensiverebounds, and then his ability to switch
and guard different people. I mean, his his his defense tonight was terrific.
(17:11):
And you know, we've used himin a lot of different ways.
Probably the common person wouldn't know interms of being able to switch, and
he's guarded point guards. He switchedon to the center sum at Georgia Tech.
So yes, his versatility and hisexperience, I think, you know,
his experience is vital. He's justhe's an older guy that's played a
(17:33):
lot of games, been through thewars. I mean, how about the
pass. He made a terrific passright, you don't even think about it,
but huge play. So I justthink he's been he's been very good.
And we talked about the stats earlier. Pitt had nine points off of
turnovers, Clemson only two. Thegame started slow for Clemson, especially in
(17:55):
the first five minutes. There weresome mistakes earlier. Brunelle was asked about
these turnovers early in game. Howconcerned is he and what they're doing as
a team to help clean up thoseturnovers as we get into tournament season.
Now, well, we had acouple in our post players careless with outlet
passes, and I think a littlebit of that. Sometimes our guard like
Chase gets fatigued and sometimes should begetting it on the move. And I
(18:21):
just think, you know, likePJ had one on an initiation of a
ball reversal with some things that Ithink sometimes the game like it takes him
first media to like he hadn't beenpracticing and so then all of a sudden,
the pace is so quick that he'sjust a half step behind on some
things. But we've just got tokeep working at it. You know,
you got to make decisions. You'vegot to be strong with the ball,
(18:45):
and different teams are going to dodifferent things. They were heavy on pressure
on the wings, you know,we try to do some other things to
combat it. I thought it helpedus, but we did have a couple
of turnovers that you got to cleanup in games like this, and of
course not lost upon us and especiallyon coach Brunell in the entire program.
The team is now twenty and eight. Twenty wins is a bit of a
(19:07):
milestone. We know, that's abig landmark to hit if you're a college
basketball program. Every single season here'scoach Brenell on the importance of reaching that
twenty win mark. Yeah. Absolutely, yeah, I think that's you know
whatever. We play thirty thirty onegames, thirty one regular season games.
To win twenty games this day andage college basketball hard to do. And
(19:33):
you know, certainly credit goes tomy staff and players. Players win these
games with big time plays, andso yeah, I think it speaks to
consistency. Two years in a row, you know, maybe three out of
four in terms of really good winningpercentages. I just think we've you know,
I think our program has done verywell. We got things we got
(19:56):
to keep moving on and try tokeep doing better and hopefully this is a
team can can take it to anotherlevel. But certainly I do think twenty
wins a significant Now, we allknow PJ. Hall one of the best
players in the country, certainly oneof the best in the ACC. Brenew
always offers up a very honest assessmentof each of his players, no matter
how good or bad things have been, and there's some frustration to a certain
(20:18):
degree on PJ. Hall in termsof how he starts games here, especially
with the foul trouble. Here's aquick glimpse into Brad Banel's thinking in terms
of what's been going on with PJ, especially early in games. Yeah,
a little bit, just like acouple of careless plays like in the file.
You just can't do that, LikeI mean, drives me insane because
we've talked about it and he justhe loses his mind a little bit.
(20:42):
And I love him dearly. Butwhen you're not out there every day and
you're not practicing walling and mos golfand these things that we do on defense,
you know you're a step behind.Now. I will say this down
to stretch, he was really good, you know. Offensive discipline was good
and uh that's part of what drivesme crazy is I know I need him
(21:04):
at the end and he's over theresitting next to us with foul trouble and
it's like, hey man, wecan't can't be doing this, like you
know, you've got to we gotto win the war. You know,
you might have to lose a battlehere. And it's funny. In the
last game there was a play wherehe's in a little bit of foul trouble
again, had three and they kindof beat somebody and he was late getting
there and he was gonna come over. It was gonna be a foul,
(21:26):
and he let him go and theyscored and it wasn't great, but better
than like an and one, Andhe's over here with four and so just
getting him to understand that you knowhis value, how important it is.
There are times and then you knowhis third file tonight, he's like,
found a guy passing the ball,Like, we don't need that one,
(21:48):
Like it's not going to kill us. If that guy reversed it, We're
okay. Like, but he's founda guy passing the ball, like,
we don't need that one, Likeit's not going to kill us. If
that guy reversed it, We're okay. But he wants to play hard.
He's competitor. That's what I loveabout him. And again he had some
big baskets and big rebounds. Ithought his defense was good down a stretch.
(22:11):
Now, certainly with that said,PJ. Hall closed the game out
well twelve points, ten rebounds,one of two players in this game to
get a double double. We'll talkabout the second one here in a minute,
but look, Senior Night is rightingaround the corner here for Clemson,
and Brunell couldn't help but take afew minutes talking about the respect he has
for Big Number twenty four PJ Hall, as well as the challenges that lie
(22:34):
ahead in facing this Notre Dame teamtoday. I mean, I absolutely love
him. He's been an absolute joy. I'll get emotional if I talk about
it too long. I really will, because I'm gonna miss him more than
you know. He just cares abouteverybody, cares about our program, cares
about me, cares about his teammates, and I think he feels bad right
(22:57):
now that he's not practicing. AndI mean it's just like it's genuine and
it's he doesn't want to let anybodydown, and so it's hard. He's
hard on himself, but he's anultimate program guy. I mean he just
whatever we need to do, hewants to do. And uh, I
mean he's been an absolute joy andI'm extremely grateful to coach him. Playing
(23:22):
off of that kind of with therest. How big was to night in
the sense that you kind of keepthat goal in front of you that you
can get that double by yeah,I mean obviously it's you know, very
hard, but yeah, I meanit's this this win was big. Obviously
we've been tied with Pitt and nowwe got to go back on the road
and and uh Notre Dame is oneof the best defensive teams. I've watched
(23:45):
their film a lot this year.They Mike is doing a terrific job.
They play extremely hard and they're hardhard to beat because they're hard to score
against. So that'll be that'll bea challenge. But this obviously keeps positive
momentum going, which is really good. And we're you know, day off
tomorrow, which is good for theplayers. I think we've gone about ten
(24:07):
days in a row in three gamesand seven days and so just a day
to kind of decompress and take adeep breath and get some guys in with
the trainers and do the things weneed to do there to hopefully get right
so we can get prepared properly forour next one. Now, one of
our favorite players we talk about forthis team, a guy that kind of
seems like one of us, hasthat blue collar mentality, plays with that
(24:32):
hard hat. It's Ian Shefflin,the chef who came up big in this
game against pitt fifteen points, twelverebounds, one of two players again who
had a double double for Clemson inthe big win over pitt Brenell had a
chance to talk about his thoughts onIan Shefflin and not just his physicality,
but how underrated he is as anathlete. He's a better athlete than people
(24:55):
think, especially vertically, and obviouslyhe's got toughness and strength, you know.
And then what's fun is to seehim become a better basketball player,
like making a big time three,you know, backing a guy down and
scoring in the paint over top ofa good athlete. Those are big time
basketball plays, you know, andhe's really improved that. That's not something
(25:18):
that he really He's always been agood rebounder. He's always been a guy
that can pass a little bit,you know, but scoring and all the
other things not really what he's waswired to do. And obviously for his
development future of the program, that'sgonna be huge that he keeps taking those
steps. And you know, hewas terrific today, double double, I
(25:38):
mean, big time rebounds at theend of the game, like just yeah,
proud of him. And one thingthis team has done from time to
time stemming the tide from slow starts. We talked about the first five minutes
of this game being a bit ofa slow start. For Clemson. Pitt
had a ten point lead with aboutnine minutes left in the first half.
(26:00):
Coach Brenellan overcoming a slow start againstPitt and how important it is down the
stretch this season to continue those trends. Yeah, I think we just did
a better job of understanding and playersof understanding exactly how they were playing and
trying to attack it a little bitbetter, a little more efficient. I
(26:21):
think we got one or two intransition. Josh got a couple buckets driving
it, which we needed to continueto do. So, Yeah, again,
they played great. I mean thefirst beginning of the game, they
were it was they were. Theywere on fire, and they were they
had us on skates a little bit. They were moving it, and again
I'm so proud of our guys forbeing able to guard them as well as
(26:41):
we did. I mean, theyThe crazy stat in the game is they
took sixty one shots and we onlytook forty eight, so they got thirteen
more shots. That's usually not arecipe for success. So with too many
turnovers, and they got some offensiverebounds too, that's you know, and
they didn't turn the ball over.Hard to beat teams like that, you
(27:03):
really got to fight defensively, sothat means you got to get a lot
more stops, which we did,so that's why we won. So there
you have it. That is thehead coach of Clemson's men's basketball team,
Brad Burnell. Always good for someinsight in commentary. When we return momentarily,
we will reflect back on our conversationearlier this week on our sister station,
one of four point nine Fox SportsUpstate with the play by play voice
(27:26):
of the Clemson Tigers. It's DonMonson joining us here as we get you
set for a big game. Clemsongoing for win number twenty one, overall
win number eleven in a crowded accpack. Right now, it's the Tigers.
It's the Fighting Iris coming your way. Shortly, you've got it locked
into the ingles count down a tipoff show right here on ninety two point
five weesc ninety two point five wd S is the Upstate's new home with
(27:52):
a Clemson Tigers. It's all gonnabe with you all on this Saturday evening.
(28:14):
Get you're ready for Clemson Tiger basketballtaking on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Traveling with the South Bend always aninteresting venue in every single sport,
Clemson Tiger's Notre Dame Fighting Irish comingup here shortly on ninety two point five
WSC. You got Don Munson andTim Borey on the call. Speaking of
Don Munson, will join us heremomentarily. Had a chance to catch up
(28:38):
with Don a couple of days agoon our sister station one oh four point
nine Fox Sports Upstate. Don't forgetyou can catch the Richmond Weavers Show every
single weekday, three pm on thatfine station and then keep it locked in
yours truly, John Ellison, ourgood friend Trey Falco, the producer and
host extraordinary of many shows around hereon iHeartRadio, is the co host with
(28:59):
me, and we take you throughthe entire plethora of the world of sports.
I know football season is what welike to focus on mostly here at
times in the Southeast, but basketballseason is in full swing. Catch us
on one of four nine Fox SportsUpstate weekdays starting at three pm with the
Richmond Weavers Show and then game onwith John Ellis at four pm. Speaking
(29:21):
of which, basketball is here.March madness is here. It's the second
day of March. Starting to feela little more like it. Yesterday was
a dreary cold day, more reminiscentof February. But you got the twenty
twenty four Ingles Soacon Basketball Championships rightaround the corner. I want to find
out more, go to soconsports dotcom. This is proudly sponsored by our
(29:41):
friends at Ingles Low Prices. Lovethe savings and want to mention to you.
Also a programming note that yours truly, John Ellis, will be live
on site coming up on the eighth, which is this coming Friday, live
from the Harris Cherokee Center, broadcastingour show game on on one of four
nine Fox Sports Substate there. I'vechecking it all out. Richmond Weaver will
(30:02):
be there as well for the RichmondWeaver Show starting at three pm. Looking
forward to getting together with the goodfriends from the Southern Conference as always.
As I mentioned, we had achance earlier this week to catch up with
Don Munsen. Trey Falco and Idid, and we asked him a little
bit about Clemson basketball. This wasin the middle obviously of the NFL scouting
combine that's going on, and you'vegot some key Clemson players, including a
(30:25):
guy like Ruco Rororo, who hasmade himself a few dollars at this combine
with his athletic testing. Here heis Don Munson from a few days ago,
checking in with us not only onthe Clemson men's basketball journey right now,
but all that's going on in theNFL Combine as it relates to Clemson
football. It's the voice of theTigers. It's a man who knows some
(30:45):
of these guys, including Ruco Rooyep, and of course the man who
just ran a forty yard dash,a very good one in Xavier Thomas.
It's our friend, Don Munson.Welcome to the show on combine day,
My friend, I've got how almostshowed today. I would clock down at
about seven point two board. Butyou know what, you would look good
doing it, That's right. Hewould sound the should sound good though the
(31:08):
DUC wones he wouldn't miss a beat. He grabbed the mic says, all
right, kids, it's a sevenpoint two. We're back at it here.
Yes, I would not be upand at the end of that,
but uhud, be ready to go? How you been done? What's going
on in here? So first ofall, we'll get to basketball in a
minute, but spring practice here weare spring ball time. Yeah. Matter
(31:33):
of fact, that was u overobviously a practice yesterday, went over,
got my workout in in the inthe weight room, and so guys that
aren't in the combine for Clemson areover there working out today in the weight
room. So I was there withwith some fellow with some fellow pros as
they were they were going through things. So, uh, at that time
(31:55):
of the air or you spotting everything? It was spotting you don from there
playing a spring game and then withthat little downtime and away we go.
We're like, hey, but we'retwenty six weeks away from the NFL starting,
which means we're about twenty four saturdaysaway, yes, from having some
college football. The countdown is on. Don Munson joins us here from the
(32:15):
Clemson Athletic Network. Who was spottingyou in the weight room? Come on,
Oh, I don't need to spotit. I don't think spot spot
That's why he's the best. Okay, Don, let's talk some hoops.
Clemson. They continue their dominance OVERPID, at least recently, and it looks
(32:36):
to be, you know, headingtowards tournament time right now for this team.
Whereas last year there was a lotof consternation and a lot of different
guys stepping up lately, including guyslike Jack Clark and others. And it's
good to see this team. AlthoughPJ, you know, he's bounced back
and forth here. We know he'sone of the best players in the country,
but when his game has been alittle bit off kilter, at least
by his own standards, you've seensome guys step up in this lineup.
What a great job lately by thisTigers team. Yeah, it's been a
(33:00):
It's really has been a complete teameffort. The thing that dois really carried
this ball club and winning six ofthe last seven has been their defense.
I mean, they just absolutely putthe cliamps on on Fitt and the second
half Will held them to twenty eightpercent shooting. Hunston shot fifty six percent
in the second half of the othernight in the racing that four point deficit
(33:22):
and winning it by seven points.So now you go to Notre Dame and
Notre Dame club that kind of likePitt, they're playing their best basketball the
year coming into this. They've they'vewon for their last five and defensively they
are way better than people want togive them credit for. So it's gonna
be a tough matchup in South benWake Forrest found that out the other night.
(33:45):
Hopefully Clemson took notice and and justgot to win by a point.
There, boys, just got tofigure out a way to win by a
point and get out of there.Yeah, it's a beautiful thing about It
is no style points really at thispoint. It's it's about, you know,
getting to win and advancing and continuingto chase not only the four seed
in the ACC but also set yourselfup for premium position in the tournament.
Whereas this time last year there wasa lot of doubt, a lot of
(34:07):
consternation. It turned out to befrom a lot of people's estimation, a
snub and it you know, itdidn't end well. But as we turn
the page, of course, wegot coverage coming up on w SC on
Saturday, the English Countdown to tipOff show giving you pregame coverage here on
iHeartRadio in advance of Don Munson.Is Tim gonna be with you on the
call there? I hope. Soif it's a Notre Damn game, can't
(34:27):
miss that. Oh yeah, theKing of Notre Dame is definitely going to
be there. Yes, we weable to get the red carpet treatment with
brother. Yes, he will bewith us on the call. All right,
So let me ask you about theseguys we're seeing today for Clemson.
We'll talk about some more guys laterthat are at the combine. Obviously,
Will Shipley is a guy I'm keepingmy eye on. But Xavier Thomas,
(34:49):
Ruker Rower Road Tyler Davis. Justa word about those three individuals, not
only from a personal side, butfrom a football side. You've seen him
up close and personal. So ifwe but we want to get your perspective
on those three special defensive lineman thatClinton has now graduated into the NFL.
Yeah, so I so what didX team run in the forties? What
was his forty times? The firstone four point six three? Not bad?
(35:12):
So yeah, that's that's uh,you know, so that's pretty elite.
From from that standpoint, maybe youknow, maybe the second time too,
he can cut that down into thefour to five range. If he
does that, then that will certainlymake a lot of scouts uh pop their
eyes a little bit, because youjust don't have that kind of speed that
that comes off the edge. Uh. From from that standpoint, although I
(35:34):
think a lot of people may beprojecting him as more of an outside linebacker
kind of guy, uh in athree to fourth set than the necessarily a
guy that's gonna play in a fourto three and a be insestan to see
you know who drafts him and wherehe goes. But I think that Xt
has got a shot to to makean impact on a team uh In,
you know in the on the professionallevel, you know a Row Row Row
(35:57):
and Davis. I love both ofthose guys. I think that they're really
both of those guys wherever they gocan be real impacts on teams. And
it doesn't matter where they go.They don't have to go to a certain
team to have an impact. Ithink they can go right away someplace and
have an immediate impact. And Iwouldn't it wouldn't shock me to see those
(36:20):
guys not be day ones because Idon't think there their first round kind of
talent, although it only takes oneteam to fall in love, but definitely
second day guys that can go inthe second and third rounds. Yeah,
I love Aroo, I love allthose guys. But they're comparing him to
Justin Mattobuke lan Zerline FROMNFL dot Com, and I like that comp He's a
guy that can do a lot ofthings on the defensive line, and we
saw him emerge I would say abouta year and a half two years ago
(36:45):
in that defensive line rotation. Andit's just it's defensive line, you,
I mean, they just keep producingsuch great talent. And I'm seeing the
new recruits that are coming in beingranked by rivals and others as the top
class in terms of replenishing the cabinetthere. Talk about that with new coach
Rump, who's been around for awhile, back in the mix, they're
coaching up more defensive line prospects.Now, yeah, no, no doubt
(37:07):
I saw that that that today whereour defensive line group is listed as number
one coming in uh as A asa new freshman class, which has everybody
excited. And there's already a lotof talent that is that is here on
campus. But I think getting coachRump back getting also coached loop that you
and nothing against the guys that werehere, right, nothing against the guys,
(37:29):
but what you get is just vetteringguys that have coached it up.
They've proven it before, they putpeople in the league, and they're going
to continue to put people in theleague. And in this day and age
of where we are, uh,you know, in the in the day
of the nil, the day totransfer portal and all that kind of stuff.
(37:50):
Kids that want to come and play, they want to be coached up
by guys that know they can getthem to the promised Land, get them
to that point. And both ofthese guys I think are gonna make immediate
They've already made immediate impacts. They'regonna make long lasting impacts on Clemson football.
Don Munson is the voice of theClemson Athletic Network, and Don,
before we let you go, Ijust want to not quiz you. But
(38:13):
you probably know this. If youdon't, shame on you. I'm kidding.
I'm kidding. Hunter Tyson. HunterTyson hit his first career three pointer
last night for the Denver Nuggets.How about that? How about that?
Yeah? That was that was great. The SEIZUS. He's on the US
on that contract that allows them toflip him up to the NBA team,
put him back down to the GLeague team. He's still making great he's
(38:35):
still making some great money being ableto do that. But I think it's
just a matter of time for hunterTyson to be fully in the in the
NBA, and I think that's theway the Nuggets feel about him. When
they drafted him, they knew.I think they kind of knew, but
I think they're really finding out justexactly what they drafted in Hunter Tyson.
I think that's gonna be a guythat's gonna stick around and play in the
(39:00):
in the NBA, you know,for somewhere around eight to twelve years.
I really think a barring injury,that he can have that kind of impact
with a ball club and and reallyhave an impact on Clemson basketball by doing
such. And it'll be interesting towatch him. But there's not a better
There's not a better young man thathas come through this program than than Hunter
Tyson. No doubt about his formerteam, the Clemson Tigers, looking to
(39:22):
extend the winning streak to four.Don Munson Tim Berray will be on the
call in South Bend for that gameon Saturday. You can catch it on
our sister station, w SC ninetytwo point five and all across the Clemson
Athletic Network. Don Munson checking inon a combine Thursday. Good the man.
All right, boys, Hey,pretty pebble is still good. She
(39:44):
is done. She is Thank youfor asking. We heal sugar snaps is
right there, so oh yeah,take care of them both. Remember those
ladies in your life. You gottatake care of him. Bubba, absolutely
done. Don Munson our hero.He's a hoot. He's a hoot.
Don Munson, Clemson Athletic Network's Voiceof the Tigers. And I've told this
(40:06):
story many times. Don Munson andI go way back. I used to
walk the halls of what was thenWhistle one hundred, way way back in
the day, and Don Munson wouldbe kicking around doing some work on one
of the AM stations here in thisbuilding. And Don was a guy that
I looked up to. And it'sjust such a pleasure. And Don will
always tell you, he'll always tellyou if you call him the voice of
(40:28):
the Clemson Tigers, will say,no, no, no, that's not
me. That's the late great JimPhillips. And who can forget the great
dulcin tones of one Jim Phillips.A lot of college hoops going on right
now. You've got some action tippingoff in the top twenty five here.
Shortly Duke in Virginia are underway rightnow. You've got UCLA at Washington State
coming up. Here in just afew minutes, Houston at Oklahoma. Number
(40:51):
one Houston tips off at eight pmin Norman, Michigan State, traveling the
number two Purdue with Zach Edy stilldominated things in the country right now.
That's at Mackie Arena, coming upeight pm on Fox, number four,
Tennessee. They've had a strange season, They've had some ups and downs,
but here they are at twelve andthree in the Southeastern Conference. Taken on
(41:12):
another twelve and three team, ateam that Clemson beat earlier this season,
number fourteen Alabama. They tip offat a pm on ESPN. And then
you've got the Zags Gonzaga traveling toSaint Mary's underrated game here, number seventeen
Saint Mary's, number twenty three Gonzaga. That tip off is at ten pm
for U Night Owls out there onESPN and ESPN Plus up there live from
(41:36):
Saint Mary's. Going to take youthrough some of the key matchups between Clemson
and Notre Dame here shortly around theACC. You got some big time games
tipping off around the country right now, and of course tonight you've got Syracuse
Louisville tipping off at APM. Pittand Boston College, you're underway, Pitt
of course, with nine wins inthe ACC, still tangling in what Brad
Burnell has called that glob So we'regonna see a lot of fascinating storylines here
(42:00):
over the next few days unfold betweenthis Clemson team and those teams that are
log jammed up in that top fourbattling for that double buy. But as
Brad Brunel has talked about, asagain Don Munson has talked about, and
so many people down there with thatprogram have talked about, handle your business
here on out and things should workout just fine. It's interesting to look
(42:22):
back and juxtapose where they are nowversus last season, where Clemson was pushing
for twenty wins. They got tothat plateau, but once again there was
a feeling of consternation, a feelingof doubt leading up to tournament selection time,
and certainly that proved to be thecase as they were left out and
left in the nit field. Itlooks very promising for Clemson right now,
(42:45):
as bracketology and other analysts have themvery well fixed within that five or six
seed position, maybe even better aswe get into the ACC tournament here.
Surely, but It's Clemson Notre Damelive from South Bend, coming your way
here, seven forty five tip off. Don Munson, Tim Beret on the
call. When we return, RichmondWeaver and I take you through a final
(43:07):
few looks at this Notre Dame team, some of the key matchups, things
to look for tonight if you getit. Locked into the Ingles Countdown,
a tip off show probably sponsored byour friends at Ingles Low prices, Love
the Savings, John Elis Richmond Weavertaking you all the way up to network
coverage here on ninety two point fiveWSC. Ninety two point five WDS is
(43:29):
the Upstate's new home for the ClemsonTigers. Getting a set for Clemson Notre
(43:54):
Dame coming up at seven forty five. Don Munson, Tim Berat on the
call. It's Engles count Down totip off show wrapping up here John Ellis,
Richmond Weavers. Were taking a lookat Notre Dame, a little bit
about these matchups. A team inthe fighting Irish Richmond that look. They've
struggled this year overall, but oflate, especially the back half of February,
put up some big wins, especiallythe one you talked about earlier against
(44:15):
Wake Forest. Yeah, and thiswas a Wake Forest team that was coming
in feeling pretty confident after the bigvictory at home against Duke. And obviously
we know how that played out,just the controversy court storming Kyle Philipowski who
did play after that incident there.So I guess that knee or ankle was
(44:36):
not as bad as was led tobelieve right after. Yes, I think
it did work out okay. Butthis is a Notre Dame team. Yes,
I know they haven't been able tobeat some of the top tier teams
necessarily over their last few games,but they're still winning games. And again,
that was a big victory against NotreDame. So this is a dangerous
(44:58):
team. And John, how manytimes have we talked about it. It's
on the road, on the road, conference games on the road, and
we've seen it. The chaos thathas played out in college basketball this year
is unprecedented, especially with teams inthe top twenty five or you know,
teams that are competing for the topspots in each of their conferences respectively.
(45:19):
Yeah, no doubt about it.That's been the story of the ACC this
year. When you think you've gotthings figured out, not so fast.
My friend I was looking at bracketologya minute ago for Clemson and right now
Joe Lonardi, And this is alwayssubject to change by the hour, but
as of Saturday afternoon, looks likethe matchup would be against your namesake Richmond.
Yeah, there we go, theSpiders and the Spiders. Hey,
(45:40):
the Spiders can be very dangerous.We saw them have some several upsets over
the years. So Notre Dame,when you get right down to it,
look at what their most recent winwas all about. You had a career
high from Marcus Burton, the freshman, thirty one points, and Carrie Booth
kicked in fifteen points. So certainlythey had the fire against a good team
like Wake Forest to put up points. I don't want to say trap game.
(46:04):
When you go to Notre Dame.It's a weird environment in a lot
of ways because it's a football environmentwhen you go there first, but you
don't think basketball all of a sudden, you sucked into a road game of
the ACC. Anything is possible,Oh, yes it is. Anything is
possible. And Marcus Burton averaging almosttwenty one points per game, he's definitely
a guy who is playing at anelite level, right now, but this
(46:27):
is a Notre Dame team that theystill have their struggles and this is a
game where Clemson has to go inthere and come out and not falling behind
early. It's going to be imperativeon the road that you can have that
opportunity of getting some things going onearly. And a lot of it has
to do with can Chase Hunter andJoseph Gerard the third Can they still play
at an elite level in that backcourt? And then PJ. Hall will see
(46:52):
how he's feeling, see how hislegs are, because I think that's a
big part of it too. Butthey have nobody that can defend PJ.
Hall. Well, it's going tobe interesting to watch and listen to as
well. You can keep it righthere locked into ninety two point five wesc's
You have the Clemson Athletic Networks coveragecoming up here in just a few short
moments, Don Munson and Tim Burraytakeover. Don't forget, by the way,
(47:14):
You've got the Ingles Soacon Basketball Championshipscoming up, brought to you by
our title sponsor, Ingles. Lowprices, love the savings. Go to
soconsports dot com find out more aboutticket information. It's going to be a
great time up in Nashville. Weencourage you to check that out as well.
For Richmond Weaver, for our buddyTrey Falco, For Don Munson,
this is John Ellis. Thanks forlistening to The Ingles Countdown, a tip
(47:35):
off show. We appreciate you guysas always. Have a great rest of
your weekend and enjoy tonight's game righthere on ninety two point five WSC
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