After COVID pause, Clemson basketball set for top 20 showdown with Virginia
Clemson basketball coach Brad Brownell has been concerned since the start of the season that the Tigers would have to pause team activities at some point because of COVID-19.
That concern became a reality as Clemson’s games against North Carolina on Saturday and Syracuse on Tuesday were postponed due to a staff member testing positive for COVID.
There is never a good time for a program to pause activities, and Clemson doing so after opening the season 9-1 certainly wasn’t ideal. But the good news for the Tigers is that there was no outbreak within the program and the pause was a short one.
After halting team activities last Friday, Clemson resumed practicing Wednesday. The Tigers will face Virginia in a top 20 ACC showdown Saturday.
“How far it was inside our team, you don’t really know and you can’t really figure it out maybe in a day,” Brownell said. “So yes, I feel very fortunate that we were able to get back as quickly as we have. Now it’s up to us to adjust and try to get back to normal and get with it.”
Brownell had to stay away from the facility for several days as a close contact but was able to return on Friday after multiple negative tests.
He watched practices on Wednesday and Thursday from his home via Zoom, even calling in and stopping them a few times to clean up some mistakes he didn’t like.
“Honestly Wednesday wasn’t very good. Watching it on Zoom, guys were not in very good shape,” Brownell said. “You could tell they had been off for three or four days. (Thursday) was a little better. Hopefully (Friday) is even better.
No. 12 Clemson has won four consecutive games heading into Saturday’s showdown with No. 18 Virginia, including impressive wins over No. 18 Florida State and a 6-1 N.C. State squad.
The Tigers will need to continue to play well against a Cavaliers team that has also won four straight since losing to No. 1 Gonzaga last month.
“We’ve gotta be ready to play at a high level to beat Virginia,” Brownell said. “(They) can beat you in a lot of different ways. Obviously they can beat you with their defense like they always do; just have a lot of guys that can make plays.”
The good news for Clemson is that they should get back an important piece of their rotation.
Forward Hunter Tyson appears set to return after missing the previous five games with a face injury. Tyson, who is averaging 6.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, took a knee to the head last month.
“He just started back Wednesday and has practiced the last two days. I think as long as everything goes well today and tomorrow morning he should be hopefully ready to go,” Brownell said.
CLEMSON-VIRGINIA BASKETBALL GAME
Who: No. 12 Clemson (9-1) vs. No. 18 Virginia (8-2)
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson
Watch: The game is on ESPN and can be streamed via WatchESPN
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 12:59 PM.
