Brad Brownell, Elijah Thomas Preview Samford
The Clemson men’s basketball team is 7-1 and coming off two nice wins against Ohio State and UNC-Ashville.
Head coach Brad Brownell and starting center Elijah Thomas spoke with the media on Thursday before their game against Samford this weekend.
“Excited about the way our team has been playing. I thought we played really well in our game against Ashville,” Brownell said. “I am anxious to see how we back that up. I’m really excited about the game. They are a different kind of team; they do a lot of different things. They press five or six different ways and play three or four different zones to try and confuse you.
“They are playing better, and we know that we just need to execute, make a few shots, and continue to defend at a great level and continue to play good basketball.”
This will be Clemson’s last game without transfer David Skara who was serving a suspension for a violation at his previous school Valparaiso.
“We are certainly excited to get David back. He’s been practicing with us and has done some scout team work. He’s just another older guy, another big body. He has some athleticism on the wing that I think will help. It’s something going forward that I think our older guys are really excited for because they know David and he has been waiting a long time. It feels like he has been here a while, he just has not been able to play a game."
One of Clemson’s most important pieces to its success so far this season is Thomas and his progression. He’s been playing better and better as the season continues to roll along and Brownell has taken notice.
Thomas is averaging 12 points and eight rebounds a game shooting 70.9 percent from the floor.
“I have been very pleased with Eli’s play. He’s shown very good maturity, the Ohio State game was a great example of that where he didn’t have much going for him offensively in the first half, but I thought he was still contributing. He didn’t let that bother him, and he continued to play. The longer the game went, the better we did at getting him the ball and him doing a good job at his position. He has to do more than just score. He’s going to be a rebounder, a shot-blocker, and be an active ball screen defender.”
Thomas said this afternoon that the biggest aspect of his game that he felt he has improved on the most is staying calm when things aren’t going his way.
“I’m calm in all situations, never too high or never too low. Coach B has this saying that goes ‘mental is to physical as four is to one.’ It just means to stay calm in all aspects and all situations and not freak out when things don’t go your way, just move on to the next play.”
Thomas has taken it upon himself to be more of a vocal leader on this team.
“It’s good to have your center being able to be vocal and lead the guys. Like when we are in a zone, I have to tell everybody what is coming and where they are going and who is doing this and who is doing that. To be able to do that, but also be vocal and a leader helps our team out a lot.”
The transfer from Texas A&M remembered a time where leadership lacked at his prior school.
“When I was a freshman, I didn’t really have anyone as a leader because it was so competitive for starting spots and everybody was right there with each other. Here, I can help those guys the way I wanted to be helped.”
Clemson takes on Samford at Littlejohn Coliseum this Saturday at 3:00 PM.