Clemson vs. Miami (FL) Notes

by Press Release - Thu Mar 01 11:50:12 GMT-04:00 2007

*Clemson guard Vernon Hamilton played 37 minutes without a turnover on Wednesday night in his Senior Night game against Miami. It was a career high in minutes played without a turnover for Hamilton. His previous high was 35 minutes without a turnover against South Carolina earlier this year. It was his first ACC game without a turnover since a game against Miami his sophomore year.

*Clemson starting backcourt of Vernon Hamilton and Cliff Hammonds played a combined 80 minutes without a turnover. Hamilton had three assists and no turnovers in 37 minutes and Hammonds had five assists and no turnovers in 43 minutes.

*Hammonds had four steals tonight and now has 257 for his career. He moved into eighth place on the all-time ACC list with his performance tonight. He moved ahead of Jim Spanarkel of Duke who had 253 between 1976-79. Next on the list in seventh place is Tommy Amaker of Duke who had 259.

*Hammonds has now played consecutive games of at least 40 minutes without committing a turnover. He played 40 minutes without a turnover at Boston College last Saturday. He now has 28 assists and just six turnovers over his last four games.

*Raymond Sykes had three blocks in just 15 minutes. It was his most blocks since he had three in 17 minutes at NC State on January 9.

*James Mays had 19 points and 10 turnovers. It was his first double-double since he had 12 points and 10 rebounds against Virginia

exactly a month ago. It was his highest scoring game since he had

22 at Maryland on January 12. It was his seventh double-double of the season and eight of his career.

*Clemson did not score a point over the last 5:04 of regulation, then scored 15 in the five minutes of overtime.

*Clemson has now increased its victory total three consecutive years.

*Clemson's 74-70 win broke a streak of four straight losses this year and a streak of three straight overtime losses dating back to last year. Clemson's last overtime win was at home against Wake Forest last year, a game in which Clemson also scored 74 points. Clemson won 74-73 in overtime in that game.

*Clemson is now 28-8 on Senior Night since 1971-72, including a 17-8 record against ACC teams on Senior Night over that time.

*Clemson is now 6-5 in its series against Miami (FL), but it was Clemson's first win in the series since the Hurricanes joined the ACC in 2004-05. Half of Clemson's six wins over Miami (FL) have come in overtime, as the Tigers are 3-0 in overtime games in the series.

Clemson won the overtime 15-11. In fact, this was the first time Miami (FL) had scored in overtime against the Tigers. Clemson had outscored Miami 23-0 in the two overtimes combined prior to this evening.

*Clemson reached 20 victories with the win over Miami (FL). It is the first time Clemson has won 20 games in a season since the 1998-99 season when the Tigers were 20-15. Clemson last won 20 games in the regular season in 1996-97 when the Tigers finished 23-10, including

21 wins in the regular season.

*This is Clemson's eighth 20-win season in history. Four of the eight have taken place in seasons that end in the number-seven. The others are 1976-77 (22-6) , 1986-87 (25-6) and 1996-97 (23-10).

*Oliver Purnell has now had at least one 20-win season at four different schools. He also won 20 at Radford, Old Dominion and Dayton. He joins Rick Barnes, Lon Kruger, Tom Penders, Rick Pitino, Bill Self and Gary Williams as active Division I coaches with at least one 20 win season at four different schools.

*Trevor Booker now has 64 blocks this year. Only Tree Rollins (106) has had more in his freshman year at Clemson.