Clemson's PJ Hall showed a lot of fight, toughness

Sophomore did all he could in heartbreaking loss to Virginia Tech

CLEMSON, S.C. -- After being checked by the trainer after having his left foot stepped on early in the second half Wednesday, PJ Hall walked up along the Clemson bench and ripped apart the towel he was holding.

The Clemson center was in pain. But he was also mad.

With his team down 14 points to Virginia Tech in the second-round of the ACC Tournament, he knew the Tigers needed him if they had any chance at coming back.

"He tweaked it a little bit, I guess, and I sat him down, and he was bugging me to go back in, and I wasn't going to put him back in for a while," Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said following the Tigers' 76-75 overtime loss to the Hokies at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. "I wanted him to calm down and kind of the emotion of it to get past a little bit. And then I don't remember what minute mark it was, twelve-minute mark, somewhere around that time, the trainer came to me and said, 'Hey, he can go if you want to put him back in.' So, at some point, we put him back in, and he tried to tough it out."

Hall did tough it out.

In one the gutsiest performances in Clemson's ACC Tournament history, the sophomore returned in the last 10 minutes to rally the Tigers and force overtime against the seventh-seeded Hokies.

Hall finished with a team-high 16 points, while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists. Most of that damage came after he returned from aggravating his left foot, an injury that has been with him since the start of the season.

"Yeah, tremendous character, toughness," Brownell said.

Though he was scoring and making plays, it was obvious from his facial expression that Hall was in a lot of pain.

But he did not let that stop him. Several times down the stretch of regulation and overtime he made big shots or made a nice pass to set up his teammates.

The play of the night, from the Clemson side, came with 7.7 seconds to play in regulation. That is when Hall made a jump hook shot to force overtime at 66-66.

"You could say he wasn't moving quite as well, but his performance down the stretch, the baskets that he made at the end were big time," Brownell said. "I mean, we went to him, and he delivered on multiple occasions."

In the end, Hall put the Tigers (17-16) in position to win the second-round game, but Virginia Tech's Darius Maddox had other plans. Maddox drained a 3-pointer from the left-wing as time expired in overtime to break Clemson's heart.

It was a punch to the gut for Hall and his teammates after they rallied from 11 points down, 59-48, with 7:17 to play in regulation.

"Great job by our team of putting him [Hall] in a good position and then certainly he showed why he's a great player," Brownell said. "He was able to make big shots, big scores, under duress at the biggest time in the game.

"I'm really proud of him, and he's been showing a lot of fight all year, though. So, we've seen that and it doesn't surprise me in the least." 

While the Tigers are certain to miss the NCAA Tournament, the odds-on favorites to win the tournament is Gonzaga at +400 according to Fanduel.