Clemson Seniors RJ Godfrey, Dillon Hunter Reflect on Career Following NCAA Tournament Loss

Back in the summer, Clemson basketball head coach Brad Brownell challenged two of his experienced seniors to lead a team of strangers.

Guard Dillon Hunter and forward RJ Godfrey led the charge to an NCAA Tournament finish, a 24-11 record and a program-record 14-straight away games won in conference play. The duo led the handful of freshmen and transfers to their third consecutive ticket to the Big Dance, something that was never done under Brownell until this season.

But the team’s March Madness journey came to an end on Friday night, falling to the Iowa Hawkeyes. That’s not going to take away from the two, who reflected on it after the game in the locker room.

“Nobody expected us to be here, and our team, our staff, just the whole season, we just fought the whole year,” Godfrey said. “I'm glad I got the opportunity to play with the guys in that locker room, the staff, one more last time.

It was untraditional to that of typical Tiger teams, which prides itself on an instilled culture to guide a defense-first style of basketball. However, ten new players joined the program over the 2025 offseason, featuring four freshman and six transfers.

To Brownell’s benefit, Godfrey returned from Georgia, being Clemson’s boomerang transfer that spent the first two seasons of his career with the Tigers. He was in the same recruiting class as Hunter, being reunited last spring.

The two looked to lead the group to another Elite Eight appearance and beyond, one memory that the two shared as sophomores in 2024. Now, it’s a season that will be passed down through Godfrey and Hunter’s families as positive experiences.

“I'm never going to stop talking about it with my kids, my grandkids, my cousins, all that,” Godfrey said. “This year was awesome, and I'm just blessed to be in the position to be coached by Brownell and playing for Clemson Nation.”

“I’m grateful for everything,” Hunter said. “It’s just kind of surreal, I don’t really have the words right now. But, I just want to look back on it and be thankful for everything. The bad, the good, but just thankful that I had to go down in the history books as a winner.”

“I can’t thank him enough for this opportunity.”

Dillon Hunter spent all four seasons with HC Brad Brownell, and he became a better man from it. pic.twitter.com/X59XnFzLqk
— Griffin Barfield (@BarfieldGriffin) March 21, 2026

Not only will the two go down in the program history book as winners, but Brownell applauds their leadership through the season. Clemson was expected to finish seventh in the preseason ACC poll, but exceeded expectations with a top scorer of only 12.0 points per game, the lowest that he’s had in hsi coaching career.

Through a close-knit group, the Tigers still found ways to win games. That takes the leaders to do that.

“I think if you just listen to them, it speaks to our university, our Clemson community,” Brownell said. “It speaks to the culture of our basketball program, the type of people that we have. These two guys will fall in that line of great Clemson basketball leaders.”

There’s no more to prove on the hardwood for Godfrey and Hunter, as well as the three other seniors who ended their collegiate careers in heartbreak at the Benchmark International Arena, but it’s a legacy that’s remembered by “everybody, all the time,” Clemson’s motto.

It’s safe to say it took everybody to achieve the impressive accolades it saw over the 2025-26 season. Now, the seniors will watch from afar in watching an exciting young group look to rise above the adversity.

“I know the staff is going to do a good job in the spring, and, obviously, they got a lot of young talent here with bright futures. One thing about this program, if you stay in here, it’s going to reward you. You’re going to get better.”