How pick-up games against his sisters helped Clemson signee’s basketball career
Joshua Beadle walked into his house in tears at times after playing basketball with this two older sisters.
Taylor and Tyra Beadle didn’t go easy on their younger brother while playing pickup hoops — and they usually came out victorious in those games against Joshua. The two sisters laughed when recalling those stories as they watched their brother and Cardinal Newman standout sign his letter of intent Wednesday to play basketball at Clemson.
“We used to beat him all the time when he was younger, but when he got to be about 16 it was over,” said Tyra Beadle, who plays basketball at Newberry College. “We are proud of him and he worked very hard to this point.”
Losing to his sisters helped drive his competitiveness, Joshua said, and it made him a better player.
“I used to lose to them a lot,” he said. “They beat me pretty bad.”
Beadle has grown since those days of losing to his sisters into one of the top prospects in South Carolina.
He was part of a three-member Clemson signing class Wednesday, joining Heritage High (North Carolina) guard Lucas Taylor and Grayson (Georgia) forward Ian Schieffelin. It is the second straight year the Tigers signed one of the state’s top hoops prospects.
Dorman’s P.J. Hall was part of Clemson’s 2020 class and this year it was Beadle, who is ranked No. 6 in South Carolina and No. 151 nationally by 247Sports.
Beadle, who committed to Clemson in June, said the ACC school checked all the boxes for him both athletically and academically. He picked the Tigers over Wake Forest, Virginia Commonwealth, Wofford and Furman.
“I talked to P.J. the other day and feel like it is the best it has been at Clemson in a while with the new commits we just got,” Beadle said. “I hope we all develop together.”
Beadle has the ability to play either of the guard positions, and college coaches like his length on the defensive end.
The 6-foot-3 Beadle has been a part of two straight SCISA Class 3A championship teams at Cardinal Newman and was the team’s leading scorer this season despite missing the final month of the regular season with ankle injury. He averaged 16.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists a game last season and went over the 1,000-point mark in his career.
Cardinal Newman coach Phillip Deter said the toughness Beadle showed, attacking the rehab process and getting back for the first game of the playoffs. Deter had him on a minutes limit when he first came back but Beadle told him, ‘I’m not doing that’ and wanted to give it his all during the postseason.
Beadle averaged 16 points and five rebounds in the three playoff games and had a couple key baskets in the title game against Trinity-Byrnes.
“When he came here as an eighth grader, you can tell he was different from other guys,” Deter said. “He is at that level, he has got the skills, a three-level scorer. Now, it will be getting down the nuts and bolts and getting him ready to play in the ACC.”
