Clemson vs. Duke Notes

by Press Release - Sat Jan 14 19:23:24 GMT-04:00 2006

*Vernon Hamilton scored 31 points as a reserve in today's game. It was the most points scored off the bench by a Clemson player since David Young scored 34 off the bench against Wake Forest on January 12, 1991. That is the Clemson record for points in game off the bench by the way. Hamilton's 31 points today are just the third 30-point game by a non-starter in Clemson history. The other is a 30-point game by Anthony Jenkins against Duke in 1982-83. Thus two of the three 30-point games in Clemson history by a reserve have come against Duke and Coach K.

*Hamilton is the first player in his third year with the program to record his first 20-point game and his first career 30-point game in consecutive games. Hamilton had 21 points, then a career high, in the win over Wake Forest on Wednesday. He followed that with the career high 31-point game today against Duke.

*Hamilton's 31 points were the most by a Tiger in the Oliver Purnell era and the most by any Clemson player since Edward Scott scored 32 at Virginia on Feb. 18, 2003.

*Hamilton made 14-19 shots from the field today, the most made field goals in a game by a Clemson player since Will Solomon had 14 against Virginia on January 15, 2000.

*Hamilton is now 87-173 from the field for the season, a .503 figure.

No Clemson guard has shot over 50 percent from the field for the course of the season since Michael Tait did it in 1986-87 (.510), the first year of the three-point goal.

*Clemson's free throw shooting today was 6-21, a .286 figure. That is the worst free throw performance by a Clemson team since January 12, 2002 when Clemson was 4-18, .222, in a 41-point loss at Wake Forest.

*Clemson shot 33-61 from the field today, a .541 field goal percentage. That is Clemson's best field goal percentage against Duke since the 1994-95 season. Clemson shot 26-47 for .553 at Duke in a 75-70 win in Cameron Indoor Stadium in 1994-95, Rick Barnes first ACC game as Clemson coach.

*Shawan Robinson scored 17 points today, his high total since he

scored 17 against Wofford on December 6. He had three three-point

goals, giving him 170 for his career. He moved ahead of Chris Whitney into third place on the all-time Clemson list.

*Cliff Hammonds played 39 minutes without a turnover. It was the most minutes without a turnover in his career and his first game

without a turnover this year. His previous best was 32 minutes

without a turnover on two occasions last year.

*Clemson's .541 field goal percentage was the best against the Blue Devils all year, ahead of the .516 by Virginia Tech on December 4, 2005. Clemson was just the second team to shoot at least 50 percent against the Blue Devils this year, and the first team all year to shoot over 50 percent in both halves against the Blue Devils.

*J.J. Redick's 34 points were the most against Clemson since B.J.

Elder scored 36 for Georgia Tech against the Tigers on Jan. 27, 2004.

*Both teams played at a high level in terms off offensive execution today as both teams shot at least 54 percent from the field. That is the first time that has happened in a Clemson game since the 2002-03 season when Clemson and Virginia both shot 55 percent in a 78-77 Clemson victory.