CLEMSON – Clemson head coach Brad Brownell and guard Chase Hunter will do something most men will not do.

“Chase and I tell each other we love each other before every game,” Brownell said.

Why?

“We have been through so much. I mean, it is not like I love Chase and I don’t love the other players, it is just a special bond we have because we have been through this for six years.”

Hunter has been at Clemson since the 2019-’20 season. He and Brownell have experienced more than just winning and losing these last six seasons.

They have experienced injuries, recovering from those injuries, the pandemic, the building of self-confidence, the birth of Hunter’s daughter, graduations and, of course, success both on and off the basketball court.

“The first couple of years were hard,” Brownell said. “He and I had a lot of conversations when it was not going well. Just encouraging him and trying to get his confidence up because he had been hurt.

“It felt like he would take a step forward and then two steps back. He just could not quite get his rhythm. We were bouncing him around a little trying to figure out how we were going to play him in the right position. There were different guys on the team, so it was like a young guy going through it.”

Things were not as difficult for Ian Schieffelin. Compared to Hunter’s experience, Schieffelin has had a charming basketball career at Clemson.

By the middle of his sophomore season, Schieffelin was playing significant minutes for the Tigers and eventually became a full-time starter. But it does not mean it was easy.

“He did not have to wait as long, as most freshman do. But he worked really hard to do that and he was not recruited heavily,” Brownell said. “So, he had to kind of build confidence his freshman year and once he kind of figured it out, we just kind of let him go.”

It all came together for both Hunter and Schieffelin around the same time, and since then the two have helped lead the Clemson Basketball program to heights it has never seen before.

Thanks to Saturday’s win over Virginia Tech, the Tigers closed out the most successful regular season in the 113-year history of the program. Clemson earned its 26th regular season win, a new record, while already shattering its record for ACC wins in a season with its 18th.

Coincidentally, Hunter and Schieffelin were a part of the old record when the 2022-’23 Tigers won 14 ACC games.

“Certainly, the last couple of years, the winning, the Elite Eight, the ACC wins and certainly, the 26 regular season wins, that speaks for itself,” Brownell said. “But more than that is just the way they carry themselves. The respect they have helped the program earn, whether that is fans, other coaches, other players, whoever, those guys are talked about a lot.”

That’s why Saturday night was a little surreal for Hunter and Schieffelin. It was their last game in Littlejohn Coliseum. It was their last basketball experience in the town of Clemson, in front of their home crowd.

“It felt surreal. It really has not hit me right now,” Hunter said. “It is probably going to hit me in a few days when I know I can’t play here again. But it is definitely a crazy feeling for sure.”

Here is what Hunter and Schieffelin have helped build in their time at Clemson. This year’s NCAA Tournament appearance will be the third for Hunter. It will be Schieffelin’s second.

They have guided Clemson through the most successful three-year run in the program’s history.

In the last three seasons, the Tigers have posted three straight seasons of 23-plus wins. They went to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last year and this year finished tied for second in the ACC standings, the Tigers’ best regular season finish since the 1989-’90 squad finished first.

“It’s about leaving Clemson better than when we came in,” Hunter said. “That was our goal coming into this year…make more history and do big things. I think this team has done a great job of persevering through adversity, whether that is in the game or different things.

“We have always persevered, and we found a way to win big games and that is why the team does so well.”

In the last three seasons, Clemson has a combined record of 73-28 (.722) overall and 43-17 (.716) in the ACC.

“It has been an honor to wear Clemson across my chest,” Schieffelin said. “To be honest, it is really just the people here. You go out to eat, people are talking to you, and they say, ‘Good Game.’

“It shows there is a lot of love around the town, and it has been awesome. It has been just an awesome place. Honestly, if I could do it a thousand times, I would pick Clemson a thousand times.”

And Clemson would pick them.

“There’s some envy other guys have with our team when they see guys like Chase Hunter, who wants to stay around six years and cares as much as he does and the way he plays,” Brownell said. “How hard Ian Schieffelin plays. They know there has to be something in terms of how those kids feel about your school to do that and for those guys to stay four years, because they could get more money elsewhere.”