Brownell not surprised by Hall's treatment of Ingram, says Hall even likes his head coach |
PJ Hall is one of the good guys. How good? He even likes his head coach.
Hall has had a busy week – he helped the Tigers win in Chapel Hill for just the second time in program history last Tuesday and then led Clemson past Syracuse on the road Saturday. NCAA college basketball analyst Andy Katz named Hall the national player of the week after Hall posted 25 points and nine rebounds in the win over UNC, and he posted his sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and ten rebounds, also tallying three assists and three blocks each, in the win over the Orange. The wins moved the Tigers (16-7, 6-6 ACC) from unranked to No. 25 in Katz's Power 36 national rankings. A photo taken during the win over North Carolina garnered attention nationwide. With just over eight minutes remaining in the game, Clemson guard Chase Hunter attempted a shot from the elbow that went long. Hall and two North Carolina players went up for the rebound, with all three crashing to the floor. Hall pushed the ball back out to Dillon Hunter, who found Chauncey Wiggins on the left wing for a 3-pointer. However, North Carolina’s Harrison Ingram was one of the players who collided with this teammate and Hall under the basket and immediately went to the floor. Hall jumped up and protected Ingram while the rest of the play developed, then immediately checked on his opponent when the ball went through the net. That didn’t surprise Clemson head coach Brad Brownell. “Yeah, I've said this a million times. PJ is one of the nicest kids I've coached,” Brownell said Monday. “He genuinely cares about people, even cares about his coach, which is nice. And so that doesn't surprise me at all. In fact, there are times in games when I'm a little bit more like, ‘Hey, man, we need to try to knock that dude down instead of trying to pick him up. You know what I mean?’ In games, I challenge him on that occasionally.” That doesn’t mean Hall isn’t competitive. “But I say that in that he has tremendous respect for opponents. He's going to play hard,” Brownell said. “He's going to try to do what he can do to win, but he's a very caring person. I mean, he really is. I mean, it's genuine. He just cares about people, and whether it's in a game, whether it's out on the road. We've had situations where he's helped people. After games, fixing a flat tire. I mean, it's just who PJ Hall is. He's an unbelievable kid. And in that moment, it didn't surprise me in the least that he reached down because he did think maybe something happened to Harrison. And that's the last thing that any of us would want.” Great encapsulation of who PJ Hall is. Fierce competitor, but just a damn good human being.
Thanks to @theAndyMead for the photo help last night! pic.twitter.com/q7ENxL9BBm
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