Brad Brownell earns another big bonus as Clemson advances to Elite 8
The Clemson Tigers are in the middle of a historic run in March Madness. The Tigers played some excellent team basketball against the No. 2 seed Arizona Wildcats in their Sweet 16 matchup on Thursday night. And while it was close in the final minutes, Clemson prevailed with some clutch plays, bringing home the 77-72 victory.
With the win, the Tigers advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1980. And Clemson head coach Brad Brownell continues to rake in the bonus money.
According to Steve Berkowitz, Brownell landed a $75,000 bonus with the win. He’s already earned $275,000 in bonuses thus far.
Brad Brownell reacts to the historic victory
This year, Clemson entered the Sweet Sixteen with 23 wins, the same total as the 1980 team. But Brownell’s Tigers got one more win, and they’re now one away from a trip to Arizona.
It’s not about the coach, though. Instead, he’s thinking about the people in the stands and the players who stuck by him.
“I’m just really happy for all our Clemson fans,” Brownell said. “Guys like this one right here (Chase Hunter), P.J. Hall, guys that have been with me a long the time. We’ve battled a lot of things. And this is a great moment for Clemson basketball.”
It wasn’t only the biggest win in Brad Brownell’s career thus far, but one of the biggest in Clemson basketball history, without a doubt.
Clemson got a balanced scoring effort from three of their biggest stars when they needed it the most: Ian Schieffelin, PJ Hall, and Chase Hunter. The talented trio combined for 49 of the Tigers’ 77 points. A team is only as good as their superstars will take them in the NCAA Tournament, and Clemson’s showed up in a massive way against a high-level opponent.
Arizona shot miserably, only connecting on five of their 28 shots from beyond-the-arc (17.9%). They only shot 37% from the field too, connecting on 25 of their 67 shots. Caleb Love has been one of the nation’s streakiest players in recent years and he once again was ice cold in the biggest game of the year for the Wildcats. Love didn’t hit a single three, going 0-for-9 from beyond-the-arc. He also only hit five of his 18 shots from the field (27.7%).
On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this article.