Notes on Clemson's Victory Over Maryland

by Press Release - Wed Feb 23 13:07:32 GMT-04:00 2005

*Clemson defeated Maryland in College Park on Tuesday night by a

97-93 score. Combined with Clemson's 88-73 win at Clemson on Feb. 1, it gave the Tigers their first sweep over the Terps since the 1996-97

season. Clemson also won by four points at Maryland (67-63) that

year.

*Clemson had not won at Maryland since that 1996-97 game and had lost seven in a row.

*This was Clemson's first sweep of any ACC team since the Tigers won two regular season games from Virginia in 2002-03.

*Clemson scored 97 points in the victory at Maryland, the most points in a regulation ACC road game in Clemson history. Clemson did score

102 in a 102-88 overtime road win at Virginia during he 1966-67

season. The previous best in an ACC road game in regulation was 96

at Duke in 1982-83, a game Clemson lost 99-96.

*Clemson defeated the Terps 97-93. The last time Clemson won a game by that score was on Feb. 28, 1990 when Clemson defeated a fifth ranked Duke team by that score at Littlejohn Coliseum. That is one of the most important wins in Clemson history as the Tigers clinched at least a tie for the regular season title that night. The following Sunday, Clemson won the league outright when North Carolina beat Duke.

*Clemson shot 32-55 from the field at Maryland for 58.2 percent. It was Clemson's best field goal percentage in any game since the Tigers shot .594 against Hampton in the season opener this year. It was Clemson's best field goal percentage in an ACC game since the Tigers shot .612 against NC State in a 80-79 loss in 2001-02, and the best field goal percentage in an ACC road game since the Tigers shot 33-53 at Maryland (.623) in an 80-79 Clemson win on Feb. 4, 1987.

*Clemson had 13 blocked shots in the victory, the most by a Clemson team since the Tigers had a record 16 blocks in a victory over Radford at Clemson in 1989-90. That Radford team was coached by current Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell.

*The 13 team blocked shots were the most ever in a road game, breaking the record of 12 at American University of Puerto Rico in 1989-90.

*Clemson made 8-12 three-point goals in the game for a .667 percentage. That tied for the sixth best three-point shooting game in Clemson history (min of 10 attempts) and was tied for second best in an ACC road game. It was the best three-point shooting performance in an ACC road game since the Tigers made 10-15 for .667 at Duke in 1994-95. That was the last time Clemson won at Duke.

*The victory gave Clemson two ACC road games this season. This is the first time since 1997-98 that Clemson has won two ACC road games in the same year.

*The victory gave Clemson 13 wins for the season, up from 10 wins last year. This is the first time since the 1996-97 season that Clemson has made at least a three-win improvement from the previous year.

*Sharrod Ford had nine blocks in the game, the most blocks in a game for a Clemson player since Sharone Wright had 10 against Maryland on

Jan. 26, 1993. Ford's nine blocks established a Clemson record for

a road game. The previous best was eight by Tree Rollins at Furman on January 23, 1974, Rollins's freshman season.

*Ford had 24 points, one off his career high, 10 rebounds and nine

blocks, obviously just one block from a triple-double. He was just

one block away from becoming the third Clemson player in history to record one. Tree Rollins and Sharone Wright had two apiece.

*As it was, Ford had his 20th career double-double, his eighth this season. He is now tied for ninth in Clemson history in that category with Larry Nance.

*Ford was 9-13 from the field for the game, including 7-8 in the second half. This season he now has 49 points against Maryland on

19-28 shooting from the field.

*Clemson's freshman class of Cliff Hammonds, Sam Perry, James Mays and Cheyenne Moore combined for 32 points on 12-22 overall shooting, including 4-6 three-point shooting in the win at Maryland. They had

just three turnovers in 72 combined minutes of play. Mays and Perry

combined to score Clemson's first eight points of the game. Hammonds had 32 minutes without a turnover, the most minutes without a turnover for a Clemson player this year.

*In two games against Maryland this year Clemson trailed for a total of 11 seconds. The Terps held a 23-22 lead for that period of time

in the first meeting in Littlejohn. Clemson never trailed in

Tuesday night's win in College Park.

*Clemson now has two ACC road wins by four points or less this season. This is the first time Clemson has done that since 1996-97 when Clemson won at Maryland by four and at Georgia Tech by two.

*Since losing 13 straight games to Maryland the Tigers have now won two in a row. Oliver Purnell is now 3-2 in his career against

Maryland. He was an assistant coach for the Terps between 1985-88.