Clemson basketball player came to the rescue of a stranded reporter
Clemson center PJ Hall didn’t have any assists during Thursday night’s 82-64 lopsided loss to No. 9 Duke, but he came up with a big one after the game.
The sophomore spent around 45 minutes after the contest helping Fayetteville Observer Duke beat writer David Thompson with car trouble. Following postgame interviews around 12:30 a.m., Thompson was about to leave Littlejohn Coliseum when he realized his car battery was dead.
Meanwhile, Hall was parked a few rows away when he saw Thompson flagging him down and went over to help.
“It really wasn’t anything I had to think about,” Hall told The State. “It was out of instinct.”
Thompson didn’t recognize Hall until he got closer.
“That’s how I met Clemson’s 6-foot-10 center PJ Hall for the second time that night,” Thompson wrote in a column Friday.
Hall then offered to jump the dead car and the two tried to get the car to work when it became apparent that a mechanic was needed. Thompson, who didn’t get home until 3 a.m., said he told Hall he could go home multiple times, but the Spartanburg native opted to stay until Thompson got help.
They discussed various topics, including Tigers guard David Collins’ foul on Duke forward Wendell Moore, Jr. to which Hall told Thompson, “I thought Coach K was going to fight our entire bench.”
Thompson and Hall captured the moment with a photo of Hall standing between the two cars, which were still connected by Thompson’s jumper cables.
“So, my car battery died outside of Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson center PJ Hall saw me with jumper cables and drove his car over to help. He’s my new favorite player. @pjhall020,” Thompson captioned the photo after posting to Twitter.
Hall and Clemson stay home to play Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum.
“It’s just something I wish people would see as normal,” Hall said of his actions. “It’s not something that you really have to go out of your way to help somebody else out.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 4:20 PM.
