CLEMSON BASKETBALL

Final Notes on Clemson Men's Basketball

Final Notes on Clemson Men's Basketball


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Team Accomplishments

*Clemson finished the season with a 24-10 overall record. That is tied for the third most victories in Clemson history. The 1986-87 and 2006-07 Clemson teams won 25 games apiece.

*In terms of winning percentage, this Clemson team won 70.6 percent of its games, the best winning percentage by a Clemson team since the 1989-90 Clemson team finished wit ha 24-8 record and a .750 winning percentage.

*Clemson reached the ACC Championship game with wins over Boston College and Duke. It marked the first time since 1962 and just the second time in history that Clemson reached the ACC Championship game.

*Clemson finished the year with just 10 losses, the fewest losses in a season since the 1996-97 team finished with a 23-10 record.

*Clemson won a school record 12 games against ACC teams this year. That included 10 regular season wins and two in the ACC Tournament. The 10 regular season wins tied a Clemson season record and were the most for the program since the 1989-90 team finished 10-4 and won the ACC regular season title.

*Clemson defeated 10 different ACC teams this year, the most different ACC teams the Tigers have defeated in one season. The previous best was eight in 1995-96.

*Clemson ranked 22nd in the final AP poll. It is the first top 25 final ranking for the program since the 1996-97 season and just the fifth team in Clemson history to have a final top 25 ranking in at least one of the final polls. Clemson was ranked by Associated Press in 12 of the 18 weeks, second most weekly rankings in one season in school history.

*Clemson finished third in the ACC standings with its 10-6 record, the highest finish in the standings since the 1989-90 team finished first.

*Clemson won 10 games away from home, six on the opponent's home court and four at neutral sites. It is the most wins away from home since the 1996-97 team won 11.

*Clemson was selected for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years.

*Clemson won its last seven ACC games at home, the longest home winning streak against league opponents since the 1989-90 season.

*Clemson never lost consecutive ACC games all year, the first time in Clemson's 55 years in the Atlantic Coast Conference Clemson has gone the entire league schedule without losing consecutive games.

*Established a school record for ACC wins by double digits with seven, including the third and fourth ACC wins by 30 points or more in school history.

*Clemson defeated seventh ranked Duke in the ACC Tournament, the highest ranked team Clemson has defeated in the ACC Tournament since 1962.

*Clemson defeated Boston College by 34 points in the first round of the ACC tournament, Clemson's largest margin of victory in any postseason tournament game and tied for the largest victory margin in any game against an ACC team.

*Set school record by coming back from 20-point second-half deficit to defeat Maryland at College Park.

*The Tigers defeated four teams in the regular season who won NCAA Tournament games (Duke, Mississippi State, Purdue and Miami (FL).

*Clemson limited opponents to .305 three-point field goal shooting, best in the ACC and a Clemson record for a season.

*Clemson outscored the opposition by an averaged of 9.4 points per game, the fourth best scoring margin in school history.

*Clemson scored exactly 1000 field goals, just the fourth team in Clemson history to score 1000 field goals.

*Clemson had a school record 536 offensive rebounds and a school record 271 three-point goals in 2007-08.

*Clemson had five players record at least a double figure scoring average. This was the second consecutive year, but just the third season in school history that Clemson had five double figure scorers.

*Clemson ranked in the top 20 in the nation in scoring average, blocked shots and steals.

Individual Accomplishments

*Cliff Hammonds tied the Clemson record for most victories played with 84 and in wins over ACC teams with 32.

*Hammonds finished his career as the school's all-time leader in games played (134), games started (133), consecutive games played (133), consecutive games started (130) and playing time (4285).

*Hammonds finished his career with 1465 points, 483 rebounds, 473 assists and 225 steals. He is one of just five players in ACC history with at least 1400 points, 400 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals.

*Hammonds was named first-team All-ACC academic and was third team All-ACC on the court. He is the first Clemson player to make both academic All-ACC and an All-ACC team in the same season since 1967. Hammonds was also first-team Academic All-District.

*Hammonds was the first recipient of the ACC's Skip Prosser Award, which is given to the top student-athlete in the ACC among men's basketball players.

*Hammonds became just the fifth player in Clemson history to average in double figures four straight years.

*K.C. Rivers and Cliff Hammonds both were named to All-District teams this year. Hammonds was a first-team All-District selection by the US Basketball Writers, while Rivers was a second team selection by the Basketball Coaches.

oClemson had two All-ACC players for the first time since 1998. Rivers was a second team selection and Hammonds made third team.

*Clemson had a record four players named first or second-team All-ACC Tournament. Trevor Booker and K.C. Rivers were first-team selections, while Cliff Hammonds and James Mays were second-team selections. Clemson had just four first-team selections in 54 tournaments prior to this year.

*K.C. Rivers scored exactly 500 points in 2007-08, his second straight 500-point season. He is the first Clemson player to have consecutive 500-point seasons since Will Solomon in 1999-00 and 2000-01.

*Rivers finished his junior year with 1231 career points, sixth among juniors in Clemson history.

*Terrence Oglesby established a Clemson freshman record for three-point goals with 85 and it was the sixth highest total in school history regardless of class. His .851 free throw percentage was second best by a Clemson freshman and sixth best in school history regardless of class. His three-point goal with 2.3 seconds left gave Clemson 73-70 win at Maryland.

2008 Seniors

*Won 84 games over the last four years, tied for the most for a senior class in school history. The group had 32 wins against ACC teams, also tying a school record.

*Advanced to postseason play four straight years, including the program's first NCAA Tournament bid in 10 years.

*Won 10 ACC road games, most in school history for one class.

*Took Clemson to the NIT Championship game in 2007 and the ACC Championship game in 2008. Both were just the second appearances for Clemson in each championship.

*First senior class since seniors of 1998 to win at least seven ACC games in three consecutive years.

*Had perfect 4-0 record against South Carolina.

*Had perfect 4-0 record in ACC vs. Big Ten Challenge.

*First Clemson senior class in nine years to play in postseason tournament four straight years.

Head Coach Oliver Purnell

*Has led Clemson to 49 victories over the last two years the highest two-year total in Clemson history.

*Clemson has won least 24 games in back to back seasons, a first in school history. In fact it is just the second time Clemson has had back to back 20-win seasons.

*Recorded his 10th 20-victory season as a head coach, his second at Clemson.

*Took his third different program to the NCAA tournament. He also took Old Dominion and Dayton to the Big Dance previously.

*Oliver Purnell is now 14-12 in his five years at Clemson in the month of March. He needs just one more March win to tie the Clemson coaching record for wins in that month. Cliff Ellis had a 15-23 record in March during his Clemson career (1984-94). Clemson won five games in March this year, tied for the most March wins in Clemson history.



2007-08 Men's Basketball

24-10, 10-6 ACC, 2-1 ACC Tournament, 0-1 NCAA Tournament

Date Day Site W-L Score Opponent Attend CU Rnk
11/06 Tues H W 79-66 Augusta State EXH - -
11/12 Mon H W 91-46 Furman 7,694 - -
11/15 Thurs A W 84-82 Mississippi State 9,950 - -
11/18 Sun H W 66-53 Old Dominion 6,528 - -
11/21 Wed H W 74-57 Presbyterian 7,313 24 22
11/24 Sat H W 96-67 Gardner-Webb 6,320 24 22
11/27 Tues H W 61-58 Purdue 7,350 18 18
12/01 Sat H W 85-74 South Carolina 9,281 18 18
12/05 Wed A W 82-67 East Carolina 6,556 18 17
12/20 Thurs N1 W 90-73 Puerto Rico-Mayaquez N/A 15 15
12/21 Fri N1 W 90-74 Depaul 121 15 15
12/22 Sat N1 L 82-85 Ole Miss 324 15 15
12/29 Sat H W 78-45 Samford 9,512 21 20
01/01 Tues A W 87-61 Alabama 9,316 19 19
01/06 Sun H L-OT 88-90 North Carolina (1,1) 10,000 19 19
01/09 Wed H L 72-82 Charlotte 9,349 18 19
01/12 Sat H W-2OT 97-85 Florida State 10,000 18 19
01/15 Tues H W 70-54 North Carolina State 9,046 24 23
01/19 Sat A L 80-93 | P Duke (7,5) 9,314 24 23
01/22 Tues H W-OT 80-75 Wake Forest 8,349 - 25
01/27 Sun A L 72-75 Miami 4,859 - 25
02/02 Sat H W 78-56 Boston College 10,000 - -
02/07 Thurs A W 82-51 Virginia 13,929 - -
02/10 Sun A L-2OT 93-103 | P North Carolina (3,3) 20,767 - -
02/14 Thurs H W 82-67 Georgia Tech 7,650 - -
02/16 Sat A W 71-64 North Carolina State 18,985 - -
02/19 Tues A W 64-55 Florida State 7,075 - -
02/27 Wed H W 79-69 Miami 9,347 - -
03/02 Sun A W 73-70 Maryland 17,950 - -
03/06 Thurs A L 75-80 Georgia Tech 9,191 24 -
03/09 Sun H W 70-69 Virginia Tech 10,000 24 -
ACC Tournament
03/14 Fri N2 W 82-48 Boston College 20,035 22 -
03/15 Sat N2 W 78-74 Duke (9,7) 20,035 22 -
03/16 Sun N2 L 81-86 North Carolina (1,1) 20,035 22 -
NCAA Tournament
03/21 Fri N3 L 69-75 Villanova 15,328 22 22
N1-San Juan Shootout, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico N2-ACC Tournament, Charlotte, NC N3-NCAA Tournament, MidWest Regional, Tampa, FL

Roster

#4 G/F Jonah Baize 6-6 200
#35 C/F Trevor Booker 6-7 240
#45 F Jerai Grant 6-8 215
#25 G Cliff Hammonds 6-3 200
#40 F/C James Mays 6-9 230
#24 F Matt Morris 6-5 200
#22 G Terrence Oglesby 6-2 185
#32 F Sam Perry 6-5 215
#55 C Karolis Petrukonis 6-11 260
#15 G/F David Potter 6-6 205
#42 F Julius Powell 6-7 220
#1 G/F K.C. Rivers 6-5 215
#2 G Demontez Stitt 6-2 170
#12 C/F Raymond Sykes 6-9 220
#44 F Jesse Yanutola 6-4 215

Coaching Staff

Oliver Purnell Old Dominion '75
Ron Bradley Eastern Nazarene '74
Frank Smith Old Dominion '88
Shaka Smart Kenyon College '99
Josh Postorino Dayton '99
Michael Morrell Milligan College '05

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