PJ Hall’s Status for Clemson’s Season Opener is Uncertain

Brad Brownell did not want to pinpoint a date when his star player will return from injury

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell said Tuesday he is not sure if All-ACC candidate PJ Hall will be available in the Tigers’ season-opener against The Citadel on Nov. 7

Hall injured his patella in his knee prior to Clemson’s trip to France over the summer. He was expected to miss at least four months, but he has made significant strides in his rehab. Brownell said back at ACC Media Days early this month that Hall could be back sometime in November.

But the Clemson coach did not want to give an exact date on when his post player can return, but he is optimistic it will be sooner rather than later.

“We are optimistic that he will play at some point in November, but I don’t know when,” Brownell said. “That might be hard, but I am not going to say anything is impossible. It is really up to the doctors.

“I have said this maybe in the last week or so, but the next couple of weeks are really important. He really has not done a lot with us yet. He is just starting to get on the court. He has done a good job and made some progress in terms of running on the side and conditioning and all of that. But there is nothing like being out there playing and getting reps.”

The team’s medical staff originally felt it might be January before Hall could return to game action.

“I think when they said January, they were being cautious initially,” Brownell said. “I was told probably in December. But PJ has attacked his rehab like a guy that has experienced that, unfortunately, and he is (experienced).”

Hall played with a nagging foot injury all of last season and it caused him to miss three games near the end of the year. He had off-season surgery to correct the matter and during his rehab from the foot injury, he had a setback and injured his knee.

“It still may be the end of November or December (before he returns). I don’t know. I do not want to say it is going to be any sooner than that,” Brownell said. “I just know, according to the doctors, he has been ahead of schedule for at least a month now and he has not had any setbacks.”

More Notes from Brownell’s session with the media on Tuesday:

--What the Clemson coach really likes about this year’s squad is the fact they can do a lot of different things because of their personnel.

“It is easy to say we have our older guys and kind of roll with them and maybe we will start that way, but we really have five guards that can play any of those three positions. You can play Josh Beadle, Dillion (Hunter) and Chase (Hunter),” Brownell said. “You can play Chase, Alex (Hemenway) and Brevin (Galloway). You can play Chase, Josh and Alex. I don’t think it matters a whole lot.

“And it really has not mattered to our guys, which is kind of refreshing.”

--Brownell is not sure when the Tigers will get Hall back, but he feels the Tigers will be okay in the post while they wait for his return. He said sophomores Ian Schieffelin and Ben Middlebrooks have developed nicely in the off-season, aided by the fact they were forced into playing time last season due to Hall’s foot injury. He also likes the way freshman center Chauncey Wiggins has come in and competed.

Brownell said Wiggins can do a lot of things the other guys cannot do, especially considering he is 6-foot-10, 205 pounds.

“There’s a chance. He is 6-10. He is just big, long,” Brownell said. “He needs strength, and he is still getting comfortable with the pace of everything, but there are days he does things other guys can’t do because he is 6-10.

“He can shoot over the top of people. He can make threes. He is slowly figuring it out. It has been fun. It has been exciting. He is a different kind of player.”

--Brownell said guard Chase Hunter has had a really good off-season after battling hand and foot injuries through the course of his playing career at Clemson. Because of those injuries, the Clemson coach said Hunter has not had as many off-season or quality practices in a row to get developed.

“I think he is on point to have a good year,” the Clemson coach said. “He is playing a lot of point guard for us. He has always been a good decision-maker. He has always been a guy that can handle and make plays out of the pick-and-roll. He is playing with a lot of confidence and can play all over the place.”

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