Clemson basketball vs. Duke game notes |
GAME SETUP
Site: Littlejohn Coliseum Date: Saturday January 23, 2010 City: Clemson, SC Time/TV: 9:05 PM (ESPN, ESPN 360) (Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale, Erin Andrews) Radio: Clemson Tiger Radio Network (Pete Yanity, Tim Bourret) Rankings: Clemson: (16 USA, 17 AP) Duke (7 USA,7 AP) Officials: TBA SERIES HISTORY Overall: Duke leads 101-29 at Clemson: Duke leads 36-21 at Littlejohn: Duke leads 22-17 at Duke: Duke leads 57-4 at Neutral: Duke leads 8-4 First Meeting: Duke, 46-12 in 1925-26 Last game: Duke, 74-53 at Duke, 1-3-10 Last at Clem: Clemson 74-47 in 2008-09 Streak: Clemson won two of three Duke won 23 of 25 Quick Facts • Clemson will be the site of ESPN College Game Day on Saturday morning. The broadcast begins at 11:00 AM from Littlejohn Coliseum. It will be the first time Gameday will be at Clemson for basketball. The football version originated from Clemson in October of 2006 for a Georgia Tech football game. Clemson will be the 16th school to play host to ESPN Gameday for both sports when the program airs on Saturday. • This will be the fourth top 25 team Clemson has played within the first six games of the ACC schedule and fifth game with a top 25 team this season. Clemson is 2-2 so far this year against top 25 teams, wins over ranked teams from Butler and UNC and losses to Duke and Georgia Tech. • Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell has 47 victories against ACC opponents in his seven years at Clemson. One more will move him into second place in Clemson history. He is currently tied with former Tigers coach Bill Foster (1975-84). Cliff Ellis holds the record with 59 ACC wins in his 10 years in charge of the program. • Over the last two years, Clemson has defeated Duke by 27 points and North Carolina by 19 points in Littlejohn Coliseum. It is the largest margin of defeat for Duke since 1990 and the largest margin of defeat for North Carolina since 2003. • Clemson is ranked in the top 20 in both polls this week, the 26th straight poll Clemson has been ranked in the top 25 by at least one of the major polls. This is the second longest streak of top 25 rankings in Clemson history. • Trevor Booker has averaged 19.8 points a game over his last four games and has shot 61 percent from the field. Booker is the leader among active ACC players in career double-doubles (28), rebounds (951) and blocks (230). He is third in scoring with 1535. • Three of the top four active career scorers in the ACC will be in Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday night. Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler of Duke are also in the top four. • Duke defeated Clemson by 21 points in the first meeting at Durham. Twenty-five times over the years Clemson has lost the first game of a season series on the road by at least 18 points, then came back to gain victory at Clemson in the second meeting. • Clemson is 13-1 this year when it wins points off turnovers and 14-0 when it wins points in the paint. The Tigers are also undefeated when they shoot at least 40 percent from the field (15-0). • Demontez Stitt has averaged 14.2 points a game vs. ACC teams and has shot 49 % from the field. Probable starting lineups
11 Demontez Stitt 6-1 170 Jr. G 2 Nolan Smith 6-2 185 Jr.
Clemson vs. Duke Series
•Duke won 22 consecutive games against Clemson between Feb. 18, 1997 and Jan. 19, 2008, but the Tigers won two in a row after that, a 78-74 victory in the ACC Tournament in 2008, and a 74-47 win at Clemson on Feb. 4, 2009. Both of Clemson’s wins came against top 10 Duke teams. Duke broke that modest two-game Clemson streak earlier this year with a 74-53 win at Duke.
•This is the 14th time both Duke and Clemson have been ranked in the top 25 entering
game in the series. Duke has an 8-5 lead in the previous 13 battles of top 25 teams. That includes the meeting earlier this year when both teams were ranked in the top 25.
This is actually the third straight meeting
where both teams have been ranked in the top 25. Clemson won last year in the game at Littlejohn by 27 points and that was a meeting of top 10 teams, as Clemson was 10th and Duke third entering the game. That 27-point victory margin is the largest in Clemson history against any ranked team.
•This is the 27th consecutive game Clemson has faced a top 25 Duke team. Duke is ranked sixth by USA Today and seventh by AP entering this game. The Blue Devils have been ranked in the top 10 in 26 of the 27 games. The only time they weren’t in the top 10 was the game at Clemson in 2006-07 when Duke was 17th.
•Duke’s 22-game winning streak over Clemson included a nine-game winning streak in Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum. The Tigers finally
broke that streak last year. Duke’s 22-game winning streak over Clemson was the second longest in history against the Tigers by an ACC team. North Carolina beat Clemson 25 consecutive
games between 1953-63.
•While Clemson had a 22-game losing streak to Duke, it should be noted that Duke was ranked in the top three in the nation in 15 of the 22 games, and in the top 10 in 21 of the 22 contests. Six of the 22 games Duke was ranked number-one.
•Duke is one of just two
ACC teams with a winning record over Clemson in Littlejohn Coliseum. Duke holds a 22-17 lead in the previous
39 meetings in the facility. North Carolina is the only other ACC team with a winning record in Littlejohn.
•Clemson has played two triple overtime games in its history and one of those contests was against Duke. During the 1981-82 season Duke downed Clemson at Durham by a 73-72 score in triple overtime. Clemson guard Vincent Hamilton played all 55 minutes for the Tigers. That was the 100th career win for Coach K.
•Oliver Purnell is 2-9 against Duke in his career, 2-8 as Clemson coach and 0-1 as Dayton coach.
•Clemson has defeated Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski 11 times, including eight games in Littlejohn Coliseum. (Clemson has defeated Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium twice since Coach K has been the coach of the Blue Devils.) The Tigers also had a neutral site win in Charlotte in the 2008 ACC Tournament.
Coach K is 47-11 against Clemson in his career.
•Duke was ranked in the top 20 in the nation eight of the wins Clemson has registered against the Blue Devils since Krzyzewski has been in Durham, including the 2008 ACC Tournament
when Duke was seventh and last year when Duke was third.
Clemson had three consecutive wins over Duke at Littlejohn in 1988, 1989 and 1990 when Dale Davis led the Tigers to victory over three top 10 Duke teams. Davis, then a freshman, had 23 points and 17 rebounds in the 1988 victory over a #9 Duke team. In all three of those wins at Clemson, the Tigers had lost earlier in the year to Duke by at least 14 points.
•Clemson was the only ACC team to defeat Krzyzewski in 1994-95. A back ailment forced him to the sidelines for the rest of the season after Clemson’s 75-70 victory. That was the last time Clemson won in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
•The first meeting between Duke and Clemson took place in Durham during the 1925-26 season. Duke came away with a 46-12 victory. Clemson’s first win in the series took place in 1938-39, by a 38-36 score at Clemson. Banks McFadden, Clemson’s first ever basketball
All-American, led Clemson to that victory in overtime.
•The two teams split a pair of 87-82 overtime decisions in 1979-80. Clemson won the game at Clemson when Duke was #1 in the nation entering the game. It is still one of just two games in history Clemson has beaten a #1 ranked team. Bobby Conrad, now a federal judge in North Carolina, made 8-8 free throws down the stretch to help Clemson to the victory.
Conrad will be at this Saturday’s game with the Blue Devils.
Later that year, on the night Duke retired Mike Gminski’s jersey, Duke returned the favor with an 87-82 victory in overtime (yes the same score and extra session) in Cameron over Clemson. Gminski had 29 points, 19 rebounds and seven blocked shots in that game to lead the Blue Devils.
•Cliff Ellis, Clemson’s winningest coach in history with 177 wins, was 0-10 in his career at Durham. He beat Duke three times at Clemson, but could not do it in Durham.
•Clemson’s most important win over Duke and perhaps its biggest win in Littlejohn Coliseum history took place in March of 1990 when the Tigers defeated a fifth-ranked Duke team, 97-93. That victory clinched at least a tie for the ACC regular season championship. The following Sunday, Duke lost at North Carolina, giving Clemson the outright title, Clemson’s only ACC regular season championship.
Last Year vs. Duke
Clemson Downs Duke, 74-47
February 4, 2009 at Clemson, SC
Trevor Booker scored 21 points on 8-10 field goal shooting and Terrence Oglesby added 17, including five three-point goals to lead Clemson to a 74-47 victory over Duke on February 4, 2009. Both teams were ranked in the top 10 in the nation entering the game, just the eighth matchup of top 10 teams in Littlejohn Coliseum history.
Clemson’s defense held Duke to season lows 47 points and 31 percent field goal shooting, including 23 percent on three-point shots. It was the fewest points scored by Duke since Feb. 4, 1995 (14 years to the day) when they scored just 44 in a 51-44 Clemson victory at Clemson. It was the fewest points scored by Duke under Mike Krzyzewski since they scored just 47 in a 47-46 win over Georgia Tech on Feb. 3, 1982. (Krzyzewski did not coach Duke in that 1995 game at Clemson due to a back ailment.)
Clemson’s 27-point victory margin was the largest for a Duke opponent since UNLV defeated Duke 103-73 in the 1990 National Championship game. It was Duke’s largest margin of defeat against an ACC team since a 31-point loss at Wake Forest on January 18, 1984.
Clemson won the rebounding 41-30 and the 11-rebound margin in Clemson’s favor was the best against Duke all year. Clemson also won the rebound margin and the turnover margin, as the Tigers forced 16 turnovers and committed just 12. The Tigers had 12 steals, including a record tying seven by KC Rivers.
Duke was led by Gerald Henderson with 16 points, but he shot just 5-13 from the field, including 1-6 on three-point shots. Lance Thomas added 10 points on 3-3 shooting, but he was the only Duke starter to shoot better than 38 percent from the field. Starters Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer were a combined 4-23 from the field. Duke was just 3-13 on three-point shots as a team, 23.1 percent.
Clemson also won the specialty stats of points in the paint (36-18), points off turnovers (23-10), second chance points (22-14), fast break points (13-2) and bench scoring (21-9).
Booker had five offensive rebounds among his eight total and added three blocks and a steal in 29 minutes. K.C. Rivers shot just 4-12 and didn’t make a three-point goal, but had 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and seven steals. Clemson got eight points off the bench from David Potter and Jerai Grant, who also had four rebounds and two blocks.
Duke took a 6-5 lead with 17:12 left in the first half on a diving layup by Henderson. That was Duke’s last lead of the game. The two teams were tied at 11 and 13 before Clemson went on an 8-2 run to take a 21-15 lead at the 8:44 mark of the first half. A 7-0 run to close the first half gave the Tigers a 33-21 margin at intermission. Duke did not score the last 5:06 of the first half. Clemson then scored the first seven points of the second half to make it a 14-0 run over the two halves and led 38-21 with 18:37 left after a three-point play by K.C. Rivers.
Clemson held a double digit lead the rest of the game. Clemson got the margin to 20 for the first time at 48-28 with 14:23 left on a dunk by Jerai Grant after a Rivers steal and Demontez Stitt assist. The lead to got 23 points at 10:48 left on two free throws by David Potter. Clemson led by at least 20 points over the last 8:39 of the game. The largest margin was 29 points at 74-45 with 54 seconds left. The final 27 point margin was the largest for Clemson against Duke since 1975 when Clemson won 100-66.
Indicators of Wins and Losses
•Clemson is 15-0 this year when it shoots at least 40 percent from the field and 0-4 when it fails to shoot 40 percent. Clemson shot .339 in the loss to Texas A&M, .393 in the loss to Illinois and .327 in the loss to Duke. Clemson shot just .369 at Georgia Tech.
It has been especially noteworthy in the first half. In Clemson’s four losses, it has shot a combined .275 from the field in the first half. That includes .241 against Texas A&M, .359 against Illinois and .167 against Duke when the Tigers were just 5-30 from the field in the first half.
•Clemson is 13-0 this year when it shoots a better overall field goal percentage than the opposition. Clemson is 11-1 this year when it wins the three-point percentage stat.
•Clemson is 11-2 this year when it shoots at least 33 percent from three-point range. The only loss came against Illinois when Clemson made .364 from long range and still lost, 76-74.
•Clemson is 13-1 this year when it wins the turnover margin stat. The only loss came to Texas A&M when the Tigers forced 19 and committed
18, but still lost. Clemson won that stat against North Carolina by 12 (14-26).
•Clemson is 14-0 this year when it wins points in the paint.
Clemson Registered 27-Point win over Ranked Duke Team
Clemson’s 27-point victory over third ranked Duke last year was the largest victory margin in school history over a ranked team. The previous
record was 22 points, in a 92-70 win over a fourth-ranked NC State team led by David Thompson in 1974-75 and a 22-point win over a 13th ranked Maryland team in 1976-77, Tree Rollins’ senior year at Clemson.
Clemson’s Largest Victory Margins over Ranked Teams
Date Opponent Opp Rk Site CU-Opp Mar 2-4-09 Duke 3-3 H 74-47 +27 2-22-75 NC State 4-4 H 92-70 +22 1-19-77 Maryland 13-18 H 93-71 +22 1-13-98 Florida State 17-16 H 85-65 +21 2-21-79 Duke 6-7 H 70-49 +21 1-29-77 North Carolina 19-NR H 93-73 +20 1-19-80 Virginia 12-15 H 88-68 +20 1-13-10 North Carolina 12-13 H 83-64 +19
Earlier Meeting this Year
Duke 74, Clemson 53
January 4, 2010
At Cameron Indoor Stadium
Duke’s defense held Clemson to 12 points in the first half and went on to a 74-53 victory over Clemson at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 4. It was the ACC opener for both teams. The 21-point victory avenged Clemson’s 27-point win over Duke in the previous meeting in Feb. of 2009.
Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer had 22 points apiece to lead the Blue Devils, while Kyle Singler had 16 points. The Blue Devils shot 50 percent from the field for the game and won the rebounding 33-29.
Clemson was led by Demontez Stitt with 17 points, including 8-9 from the foul line. Jerai Grant, whose uncle Horace Grant had scored 16 points as a freshman at Duke in a Clemson victory 26 years earlier, contributed 11 points on 3-4 field goal shooting. He also had two blocks and three steals. Trevor Booker had 10 points and five rebounds in 36 minutes.
The Tigers struggled offensively in the first half and shot just 5-30 from the field. Clemson scored just 12 points, the lowest first half scoring output by the Tigers in the Oliver Purnell era. Clemson did play well defensively in the first half and held Duke to 30 points and 39 percent shooting.
Clemson battled back from the 30-12 halftime deficit by scoring the first 11 points of the second half to cut the margin to 30-23 by the 17-minute mark. But, Duke then responded with a 12-2 run to take the lead back to 17 at 42-25 with 14 minutes left. Clemson got the lead back to 51-40 with 9:20 left and 55-44 with 7:16 remaining, but could never get the margin under 10 points the rest of the way. Duke’s largest lead was the final score.
Clemson showed great improvement on offense in the second half. After shooting 17 percent in the first half, Clemson shot 58 percent in the second half, including 3-7 on three-point shots. Clemson actually missed its first 12 three-point attempts before making three of its last four. But the Tigers were just 3-16 from long range for the game and had a 7/17 assist/turnover ratio.
Coach K and Purnell Have Olympic Ties
Clemson coach Oliver Purnell and Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski both have experience in international basketball, specifically with the US Olympic team. Krzyzewski served as the head coach of the 2008 United States Olympic team that won the Gold Medal. He was an assistant coach for the 1992 team, the squad referred to as the “Dream Team”. He also served as the head coach of the US team at the 1990 World Championships
and the Goodwill Games. He was the 1987 US team for the World University Games.
Purnell served as an assistant coach under Larry Brown and with Roy Williams on the 2004 United States Olympic team. He was also the head coach of the US team in the 1999 World University Games, a squad that had an 8-0 record and won the Gold Medal. Overall, Purnell served as an assistant coach or head coach on seven different USA Basketball
teams and they posted a combined record of 45-4 with five Gold Medals.
Clemson Has 13 Wins over Ranked Duke Teams
Clemson has defeated a top 20 Duke team 13 times in its history,the most top 25 wins by Clemson over a school. Clemson has also recorded 12 top 25 wins over North Carolina and Maryland.
Clemson has defeated a top 25 ACC team 72 times and has seven top 25 wins over non-conference teams, giving the program 79 total top 25 wins in its history. That includes a win over a 10th ranked Butler team earlier this year and a win over 12th ranked North Carolina.
Clemson has 36 top 10 wins in its history and 10 of the 36 have come against Duke, more than any other team. That included the win over seventh ranked Duke in the ACC Tournament in 2008 and the win over third ranked Duke in 2008-09.
Clemson upset a top 20 Duke team six times between 1988-97, with the last victory coming in 1996-97 at Clemson, an 86-82 overtime win over a 10th-ranked Duke team. That was the third year in a row that Clemson had defeated a top 20 Duke team under Rick Barnes.
Clemson also defeated a top 10 Duke team three years in a row between 1988-90. Dale Davis and Elden Campbell were common denominators on those teams. The 1990 victory at Clemson clinched the ACC regular season championship for the Tigers. All three of those victories were at Clemson.
Clemson Wins over Top 25 Ranked Duke Teams
Date Site CU-DU mar AP-USA 3-2-62 Raleigh, NC 77-72 +5 8-6 2-14-67 Clemson 73-68 +5 NR-14 2-21-79 Clemson 70-49 +21 6-7 1-9-80 Clemson 87-82 +5 1-1 2-29-84 Durham, NC 77-76 +1 15-18 3-2-88 Clemson 79-77 +2 9-9 3-1-89 Clemson 79-74 +5 9-8 2-28-90 Clemson 97-93 +4 5-4 1-4-95 Durham, NC 75-70 +5 11-9 1-3-96 Clemson 51-48 +3 19-20 1-7-97 Clemson 86-82 +4 10-9 3-15-08 Charlotte, NC 78-74 +4 7-7 2-5-09 Clemson 74-47 +27 4-3
Tigers Look for Comeback Win against Duke
This is the second meeting between Clemson and Duke in a 20-day period. Duke won the last meeting in Durham, 74-53. So the Tigers will try to come back from the large defeat margin to gain victory on Saturday night.
Twenty-five times in school history Clemson has lost the first meeting of a season to an ACC team by 18 points or more at the opponent’s
home court, then came back to gain victory over the same school on the Clemson campus.
The last time it happened was the 2001-02 season when Clemson
lost at Wake Forest, 96-55, then came back to beat the same Demon Deacons team at Clemson 118-115 in double overtime. Clemson also accomplished the feat in 2000-01 against North Carolina. The Tigers lost 92-65 in Chapel Hill that year in January, then upset a number-one ranked Tar Heels team 75-65 at Clemson in February.
The largest margin of defeat overcome for victory in the second meeting of a season series is 44 points. In 1993-94, Cliff Ellis’s final year as Clemson head coach, the Tar Heels beat Clemson 106-62 in Chapel Hill. At the end of the season at Clemson, the Tigers upset a number-two ranked North Carolina team 77-69.
Eleven of the 25 times Clemson has done this against an ACC team, the opponent has been ranked in the top 25, including seven times against top 10 teams. Duke enters this game ranked in the top 10.
Five times in history Clemson has overcome a defeat of 18 points or more in Cameron Indoor Stadium to defeat Duke in the return game at Clemson. Four of the five times Duke has been ranked in the top 15. Not on the list is the season series in 1989-90. Duke beat Clemson at Duke 94-80 that year, but Clemson won the “payback” game 97-93 to win the ACC regular season title.
Oliver Purnell has never accomplished the “payback” victory after
a loss of 18 points or more in the first meeting on the road in a season series. To his credit, he has been in this situation just once before in his seven years as Clemson head coach. In 2005-06, Clemson lost at Miami 62-38, then the Tigers lost at Clemson later in the season by three points.
Clemson Wins Over Duke after Losing at Duke by 18 or More
Year at Duke at Clemson 1966-67 Duke, 85-61 Clemson, 73-68 1978-79 Duke, 73-54 Clemson, 70-49 1980-81 Duke, 75-57 Clemson, 54-52 1987-88 Duke, 101-63 Clemson, 79-77 1988-89 Duke, 92-62 Clemson, 79-74
Grant Fourth in School History in Blocks/Minute
Jerai Grant has 97 career blocked shots, including 32 this year. Grant ranks first on the Clemson team and fourth in the ACC. He has 32 blocks in 324 minutes this year, an average of a block every 10.12 minutes. For his career, he has 97 blocks in 1,041 minutes, an average of 10.73 minutes per block. That rate is fourth best in Clemson history. As you can see by the chart below, he rates with some of the great big men in Clemson history on a per minute basis. He is better than both his father (Harvey Grant) and uncle (Horace Grant) in terms of blocking shots.
Top Minutes/Block Rates in Clemson History
Player Years Min BS Min/BS Tree Rollins 1973-77 2978 450 6.60 Sharone Wright 1991-94 2687 286 9.40 Elden Campbell 1986-90 3194 334 9.56 Jerai Grant 2007-09 1041 97 10.73 Trevor Booker 2006-10 3391 230 14.74 Sharrod Ford 2001-05 2823 177 15.95
Clemson Seniors Third in Total Wins last Four Years
An indication of the impact Oliver Purnell has had on the Clemson program is a review of the records of ACC schools in the league and overall, over the last four years. It is also an indication of the impact Trevor Booker has had.
Only, North Carolina and Duke have more wins and a higher winning percentage overall and in ACC games over the last four years. Clemson has a record of 87-34 over the last four years for a .719 winning percentage, including 29-24 in the ACC, a .547 mark.
Trevor Booker and David Potter have played in every game the last four years. They need just five more wins to break the Clemson record for wins in a four-year period. That record is 91, set by last year’s seniors. K.C. Rivers was the only 2008-09 senior to play in every game, so he holds the title of Clemson’s winningest player.
Most Wins by ACC Teams Last Four Years
Overall
Rk Team W-L Pct
1. N Carolina 113-21 .8431.
2. Duke 95-27 .7792.
3. Clemson 87-34 .7193.
4. Florida St 80-42 .6564.
5. Maryland 77-43 .6425.
6. Va Tech 76-44 .63336.
7. Wake Forest 69-40 .63307.
8. Miami (FL) 69-48 .5908.
9. Bston Col 68-49 .5819.
10. NC State 64-52 .55210.
11. Virginia 60-49 .55011.
12. Ga Tech 61-52 .54012.
ACC Regular Season Games
Rk Team W-L Pct 1. North Carolina 39-13 .750 2. Duke 35-18 .660 3. Clemson 29-24 .547 4. Maryland 27-24 .529 Virginia Tech 27-24 .529 6. Florida State 26-26 .500 7. Wake Forest 26-27 .491 8. Boston College 25-28 .472 9. Virginia 23-28 .451 10. Miami (FL) 20-33 .377 11. Georgia Tech 20-33 .377 12. NC State 17-36 .321 Through Games of Jan. 21, 2010
Clemson Forcing Turnovers
Clemson has forced 355 turnovers this year in 19 games, an average of 18.68 turnovers per game. The highest average since Oliver Purnell has been at Clemson is 18.97 turnover per game forced by the 2005-06 Tigers. Clemson has committed 280 so the Tigers have a turnover
margin of + 3.94 per game, among the top 25 rates in the nation and second in the ACC behind Maryland who has a +4.6 figure.
In terms of forcing turnovers, they rank seventh in the nation in turnovers forced per game through games of last Monday night. Missouri leads the way by forcing 21.4 turnovers per game. VMI is second at 20.7 and Tennessee is third at 19.8.
Most Turnovers Forced Per Game in 2009-10
(Through games of Jan. 17, 2010)
Rk Team GP To To/G 1. Missouri 18 386 21.4 2. VMI 16 331 20.7 3. Tennessee 16 316 19.8 4. Western Carolina 17 332 19.5 5. Texas State 17 328 19.3 6. Campbell 16 304 19.0 7. Clemson 18 339 18.83 8. South Carolina 17 320 18.82 9. Georgia Southern 19 355 18.7
Littlejohn Getting National Reputation
Littlejohn Coliseum is gaining a reputation for being a difficult place to play. Over the last two years Clemson has defeated Duke by 27 points and North Carolina by 19. It was the largest margin of defeat for Duke since 1990 and the largest margin of defeat for North Carolina in the last seven years.
Clemson is 9-1 this year in Littlejohn Coliseum with the only loss coming to Illinois, by 76-74. Clemson has a 451-168 overall record in the facility for a 72 percent winning percentage since it opened in 1968-69. Clemson has won 52 games over top 25 teams in the building, including 22 wins over top 10 teams. Clemson beat a number-one ranked Duke team in the building on January 9, 1980 and a number-one North Carolina on February 18, 2001. The building was opened in 1968-69 and had a renovation in 2003.
p>Earlier this week, ESPN’s Dick Vitale picked Littlejohn Coliseum one of five arenas that “don’t get much exposure, but have been so spectacular
over the years.” The others he listed were The Pit in Albuquerque, the Oakland Zoo at Pittsburgh, Memorial Gym at Vanderbilt and Cintas Center at Xavier.
p>Last year, Littlejohn was voted the second toughest home court venue in college basketball by EA Sports.
Stitt Gives Tough Performance
Demontez Stitt put on an heroic performance in the narrow loss to Georgia Tech. Stitt suffered a sprained ankle with 14 minutes left at NC State on January 16 and was in a boot and on crutches after the game. He was doubtful for the contest, but ended up playing 36 minutes in a starting role, one minute off his career high as far as playing time.
Stitt finished with 10 points on 4-10 shooting and added four rebounds and two steals. The junior point guard has averaged 14.2 points per game in ACC play this year and shot 49 percent from the field and 86 percent from the foul line. He has started every game this year and 51 in a row over two years.
Gameday Comes to Clemson
ESPN College Gameday will be in town at Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday. It will be the program’s first appearance at Clemson for a basketball game. In 2006, ESPN College Gameday was at Clemson for the Clemson vs. Georgia Tech football game. The Tigers won the game that night over 13th ranked Georgia Tech team.
With Gameday’s appearance for basketball this Saturday, Clemson will become just the 16th school to play host to Gameday for both basketball and football, an indication of the success of the sports program at Clemson, but also an example of the support of the Clemson fan base. The other schools to play host to College Gameday in both sports are Wisconsin,
Tennessee, Notre Dame, UCLA, Boston College, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Florida, LSU, Texas, Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Michigan State.
The Gameday crew will include Digger Phelps, Rece Davis, Hubert Davis and Jay Bilas. The game broadcast crew will include Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews.
One note of interest on the day includes former Clemson All-American CJ. Spiller. Spiller had a 50-yard touchdown run and 50 yard touchdown reception in the win over Georgia Tech when ESPN Gameday was at Clemson for football in 2006. Four years later, Spiller plans to be at Gameday on Saturday morning, and will be honored by the Clemson student body at halftime of the Clemson vs. Duke game on Saturday night. Spiller was the 2009 ACC Player of the Year, a first-team unanimous All-American and sixth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy.
Tigers in Top 25 in Basketball and Football
Clemson is one of nine schools ranked in the top 25 of the AP college basketball poll this week that also finished in the top 25 of the AP college football poll. Clemson is 17th in this week’s AP college basketball poll and finished 24th in the final AP college football poll this year. Clemson and Georgia Tech are the only ACC schools who can make that claim.
Clemson last finished the academic year in the top 25 of both polls just two years ago. For the 2007-08 academic year Clemson finished 22nd in the final AP basketball poll and 21st in the final AP college football poll that year. That year was the first time Clemson had pulled off the top 25 double in the two major sports since 1989-90.
Schools with Both Major Sports in Top 25
Team B-Ball FB Texas 1 2 Pittsburgh 9 15 West Virginia 11 25 BYU 14 12 Clemson 17 24 Wisconsin 18 16 Georgia Tech 19 13 Ohio State 21 5 Mississippi 22 20
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