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Rex Brown

Clemson's K.C. Rivers (1) leads the fast break during a game against Georgia Tech last season at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson.

CLEMSON — When guys like Cliff Hammonds, James Mays and Sam Perry graduated, the Clemson basketball team was in need of someone to take on the leadership role those three left behind. The guy who decided to take the job was forward K.C. Rivers.

“K.C. has done a great job holding the team together,” guard Terrence Oglesby said Tuesday following head coach Oliver Purnell’s annual golf outing with the media. “It is kind of funny because we are doing things this year that we didn’t do last year.”

One of those things is going to Rockhoppers, where the team usually fills up on the restaurant’s all-you-eat buffet.

“K.C is organizing team dinners. That’s a little bit different,” Oglesby said. “He has done a great job with that, and you can really tell that everybody is for each other in practice.”

Rivers took on the role of being the new leader because he knows how important it is for a team to come together in the offseason, especially one that will have so many questions to answer as it gets set for the new season, which will begin on Nov. 14 against Hofstra in the Charleston Classic.

“It’s a team concept kind of thing,” Rivers said. “It is basically getting everyone together and getting them on the same page. You can’t necessarily be a great team all the time on the court. You have to be a great team off the court too.

“You establish friendships. That’s who you are going to be with for the next five months, and you are going to see all the time, so I wanted the guys to get a feel for each other and get used to hanging around each other.”

That continuity should help the Tigers as they begin a season where they are no longer considered a surprise team. Thanks to last year’s run to the ACC Championship game, and the school’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 10 years, Clemson is now considered an upper tier-team in a league that is year in and year considered one of the nation’s best.

“We are not sneaking up on anybody,” Purnell said during a press conference from Clemson’s Madren Center. “I think people have respect for our program and our style of play. When they speak about Clemson, certain things come to their minds and it isn’t what it used to be.

“Hopefully, our guys understand that we are nowhere close to that right now, and we have to work extremely hard to get back to that level of play. Defense and rebounding is where we hang our hats. When I see how they react to understanding that, then I can answer that question. If we don’t react well to that then we could have a tough time.”

The Tigers, who went 24-10 last season, will try to handle being a favorite while adjusting to a lineup that will be more aggressive offensively, but not nearly as aggressive as it has been under Purnell since he took over the program six years ago.

“We will be a pressure team. I’m convinced of that,” he said. “But we are going to have to take a look at tweaking some things and doing some things a little bit differently.

“I think we will be a more up-tempo team on the other end of the floor. Why? Because we have weapons, and we want to really attack with those.”

Those weapons, of course, are Rivers and Oglesby, along with point guard Demontez Stitt and freshman point guard Andre Young. But Purnell also mentioned that returning center Trevor Booker is also more than capable of running the floor and giving Clemson a big guy in its transition offense.

“I love it,” Oglesby said. “When we get a rebound and throw it out, all three guards this year can take off with it and make good passes… That’s one thing I really enjoy is getting out front, making a pass and maybe getting a dunk. Hopefully, we will get a lot more of that this year.”

And maybe, just maybe they will go to the all-you-can-eat buffet afterwards.