Back in November, Brad Brownell alluded to his belief that it was going to take arguably Clemson’s best player a while before looking – and playing – like his old self again.

Three months later, PJ Hall has seemingly reached that point.

“PJ is obviously playing his best basketball right now,” Brownell said.

Those comments came after Hall’s 20-point outing in the Tigers’ latest win at NC State on Saturday, Hall’s third game with at least 20 points in the last four. A week earlier, the Tigers’ 6-foot-10, 240-pound big had poured in a career-high 28 points at Louisville.

He’s been Clemson’s second-leading scorer for much of the season, but it took Hall some time to get up to speed after two offseason surgeries.

First came the repair last spring to the fractured foot he played through a season ago when he still managed to lead the Tigers in scoring as part of a breakout sophomore campaign. Then, during the summer, Hall underwent knee surgery after sustaining a dislocation during a team workout.

He missed the season opener against The Citadel before coming off the bench in the first six games he played, logging no more than 22 minutes during that time. Hall averaged just 8.6 points and didn’t grab more than five rebounds in any of those games.

“The guy had two major surgeries in the offseason to his knee and his foot,” Brownell said. “It’s hard for your mind to get back with very little practice and start a season and trusting that. When you’re as big as those guys are, it’s just different.”

Since re-entering the starting lineup against Penn State in late November, though, Hall has steadily seen his conditioning improve, which has helped his game. Hall put together three straight 20-point games starting with the overtime win over the Nittany Lions. A little more than a month later, he played what was his season-high in minutes at the time (28) in Clemson’s win at Pittsburgh.

A couple of weeks later, Hall logged his first 30-minute game at Wake Forest and followed it up with 31 minutes against Virginia Tech. Then came a season-high 34 minutes at Florida State last month, a game in which Hall scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in the Tigers’ dramatic one-point victory.

Other than a compression sleeve that he wears on his right leg, it’s hard to tell Hall was ever injured given the way he’s performed of late. He’s averaging 20.1 points and 5.3 boards over the last six games. He was nearly perfect from the floor against the Wolfpack, shooting 9 of 11, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range, in 22 minutes.

It’s brought Hall’s scoring average on the season to 15.4 points per game, nearly identical to the 15.5 he averaged last season. Hall is also shooting 53.8% from the field, which is on pace for the highest clip of his career.

Brownell attributed the majority of Hall’s improved play to his regained confidence.

“Just conditioning, confidence and just rhythm,” Brownell said. “It’s hard when you’re not playing as well and trusting yourself.”

It’s come at the good time for the Tigers.

Hall’s effort against NC State helped Clemson (21-8, 13-5 ACC) pull off a 25-point beatdown on the road, which jumped the Tigers 16 spots to No. 58 in the NET rankings. That puts the Tigers squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble heading into another Quad 1 opportunity at Virginia on Tuesday.

With two regular-season games left and an ACC Tournament to play, Clemson needs more wins. It would certainly help the Tigers in that effort if Hall continues to play like this.

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