PJ Hall scores career-high 29 for Clemson basketball in win over Alcorn State
CLEMSON — Clemson basketball's star center, PJ Hall, set a career high in scoring Friday as the Tigers beat Alcorn State 90-69. The senior had 29 points on 61% shooting from the field.
Hall's big night continued his strong offensive start to the season. The Spartanburg native hasn't scored fewer than 14 points in the Tigers' first five games.
"I didn't realize it was getting that high," he said of his total. "(My teammates) found me open a lot . . . It was a lot of help from them."
Of his total, 20 came in the second half, when he went 7-for-10 from the field.
"He's a terrific player," coach Brad Brownell said. "He's worked hard at it for a couple of years, and it's been challenging for him. He's had to deal with tremendous amounts of adversity. He deserves this."
Clemson improved to 5-0; Alcorn State is 1-7.
Strong shooting lifts Clemson
Alcorn State hit plenty of shots Friday, shooting 50%, the highest percentage of any Clemson opponent so far.
But the Tigers' offense was able to make up for it: They shot 49% from the field, and their continued strong 3-point shooting overwhelmed the Braves, going 11-for-29. It was Clemson's third game with double-digit 3-point makes, and it had entered the game as the ACC's second-best 3-point shooting team (40.2%).
Three Tigers had multiple 3-pointers: Hall (2-for-5) Chase Hunter (3-for-5) and Joe Girard III (3-for-9).
Clemson's defense hopes to start faster
Brownell was unsatisfied with the Tigers' defensive effort, particularly in the first half, when Alcorn State shot 57%.
"I didn't think we had great focus," he said. "I was disappointed with our guys at halftime . . . The game was very comfortable and very easy and free-flowing and we were scoring, so our sense of urgency wasn't great."
It continued a recent trend of poor defensive starts, and Brownell highlighted a pair of games as examples. Two games ago, Davidson shot 34% in the first half in what he called a "very poor" defensive showing. In the next game, Boise State shot 42% in the first half.
Clemson went on to play better second-half defense and win both games. But with the Tigers' schedule about to heat up, they'll need to start a little stronger.
"We've had some spurts where we haven't been good as we need to be, and we've had some where we've done a good job," Brownell said. "We've got to sustain better, and we've got to come out of the gates a little bit better in some of these games."
Up next
Clemson faces No. 15 Alabama (4-1) on the road Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
Christina Long covers the Clemson Tigers for the Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at clong@greenvillenews.com.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: PJ Hall sets career high as Clemson basketball beats Alcorn State
