Clemson starts busy home week schedule with UNC

Clemson looks to put together a productive home week.

by TigerNet Staff - Mon Feb 07 15:57:52 GMT-04:00 2022

Clemson (12-10, 4-7 ACC, 65 KenPom ranking) plays the first of three home games this week Tuesday versus North Carolina (16-7, 8-4 ACC, 46 KenPom).

The 6 p.m. contest will be televised on ACCN with Mike Couzens, Debbie Antonelli and Brooke Weisbrod calling the action, while Don Munson and Tim Bourret will call the action on the radio waves. The radio call will be available on the Clemson Athletic Network and ClemsonTigers.com.

Notes

• Clemson and North Carolina will match up for the 157th time in program history.

• Despite the history of the series, Clemson has won three of the last four meetings against North Carolina, including a 63-50 win last year.

• The Tigers have won consecutive games against North Carolina for just the fourth time in series history.

• Clemson will have a chance for its first three game win streak against North Carolina in series history.

• Clemson will face North Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame this week at Littlejohn Coliseum. All three programs rank among the top eight winningest programs in the history of Division I college basketball.

• North Carolina ranks third in total victories with 2,310, including a 16-7 record this year. Duke is fourth in total wins with 2,233, including a 19-3 mark this year. The Fighting Irish are eighth with 1,931 wins this year, including a 16-7 record this year.

• By the end of this week Clemson will have played seven games against the top eight winningest programs in college basketball history this season. This week will be the second time Clemson has played Duke and Notre Dame this season. It will be the only meeting between Clemson and North Carolina this year.

• Clemson will have a difficult week in terms of its schedule, playing North Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame within five days. The schedule is the result of rescheduling the postponement of the Dec. 29 Duke at Clemson game.

• Clemson has had to play North Carolina and Duke in consecutive games 38 times since the ACC was formed for the 1953-54 season. The Tigers have won both games of the back-to-back set twice, in 1989-90 and 2019-20. The most recent occurrence was landmark in that Clemson beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill for the first time in history, 79-76 in overtime on Jan. 11, 2020, then defeated third-ranked Duke, 79-72, at Clemson on Jan. 14. The Tigers have split the two games, 12 times.

• The only time Clemson has beaten North Carolina and Duke in back-to-back games at home took place in the 1989-90 season when the Tigers won the ACC regular season championship. The Tigers beat UNC on Feb. 24, 1990 by a 69-61 score, then downed Duke on Feb. 28, 1990 by a 97-93 score.

• When it comes to defeating Duke and North Carolina at any point in the same season, Clemson has done it nine times. The most recent time was the 2019-20 season when Clemson won at Chapel Hill over North Carolina and defeated Duke at Clemson. That was the first time Clemson accomplished the feat since 1995-96.

• Clemson’s most successful season against Duke and North Carolina came in 1976-77, Tree Rollins’ season year. The Tigers beat North Carolina once at home and defeated Duke three times that year, at home, in Durham and in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro.

• This week is the first time since Feb. 23-27, 1991 that Clemson will play three ACC games in five days. That year, Clemson played consecutive games on the road at North Carolina (Feb. 23) at Wake Forest (Feb. 24) and at Duke (Feb. 27). Clemson lost all three.

• Clemson last played three games against ACC teams in four days at any point in a season in March of 2008 when the Tigers reached the finals of the ACC Tournament. The Tigers beat Boston College on March 14, defeated seventh-ranked Duke on March 15, then lost to No. 1 North Carolina in the finals on March 16.

• The most brutal road stretch in history might have come Jan. 10-12, 1939. Banks McFadden was the star of the Tigers that year and related the story. The Tigers played at Duke on Jan. 10, 1939, the year before Cameron Indoor Stadium opened, and lost 39-33. The next day Clemson played at NC State and lost, 54-37. The following day, Jan. 12, Clemson lost at Wake Forest 44-38. McFadden said the games were played Tuesday through Thursday before the second semester began. The team and coaches traveled in four motor pool cars for the entire trip. At the end of that streak Clemson had a 2-7 record. The travel schedule was not as hectic the rest of the season and Clemson won 14 of its last 15 and won the Southern Conference Championship.

Player stats

--/-- Clemson Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown GP/GS PPG RPG APG MPG

G 0 Josh Beadle 6-3 180 Fr. Columbia, S.C. REDSHIRT

F 1 Ian Schieffelin 6-7 225 Fr. Loganville, Ga. 19-0 2.1 1.7 0.6 7.8

G 2 Al-Amir Dawes 6-2 182 Jr. Newark, N.J. 22/22 11.3 2.9 2.4 30.4

G 3 Chase Hunter 6-3.5 204 So. Atlanta, Ga. 22/4 5.1 2.3 1.4 18.5

G 4 Nick Honor 5-10 195 RJr. Orlando, Fla. 22/16 8.2 1.5 2.9 26.5

F 5 Hunter Tyson# 6-8 215 Sr. Monroe, N.C. 21/21 10.4 5.6 1.2 25.8

F 10 Ben Middlebrooks 6-10 232 Fr. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 16/0 0.6 0.6 0.2 3.6

G 11 Parker Fox 6-7 210 Sr. Reno, Nev. 5/0 0.6 0.6 0.0 1.7

G 12 Alex Hemenway 6-3.5 195 Jr. Newburgh, Ind. 20/2 5.3 1.4 0.4 14.6

G 13 David Collins 6-4.5 217 +Sr. Youngstown, Ohio 22/22 11.0 7.0 2.4 29.5