Game 12 Notes: ECU at Clemson |
Game 12: Clemson Tigers vs. East Carolina
Date: December 29, 2004
Tipoff: 7:06 PM
Site: Littlejohn Coliseum (10,000)
City: Clemson, SC
TV: For SportsNet South
(Mike Hogewood, Cliff Ellis, and Bobby Cremins
Radio: Clemson Tiger Sports Properties
(Pete Yanity, Anne Miller)
XM Radio: Channel 180
CLEMSON (8-3, 0-0 ACC) ECU (4-6, 0-0 Conf USA)
•This will be Clemson’s first ever game with East
Carolina. It will be the fourth time this year Clemson
has faced a first-time opponent, the second consecutive
game.
•Clemson has won the first game after Christmas
each of the last 10 years. Clemson’s average victory
margin for those games is 16.7 points per game.
•Two of the top shot blockers in the nation will be on
display when Clemson meets East Carolina.
Clemson’s Sharrod Ford was 21st last year and has
131 blocks for his career. East Carolina center
Moussa Badiane averages 3.0 blocks per game this
year and has 266 for his career entering the Clemson
game, just 26 shy of the Conference USA Record.
•Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell and East Carolina
Head Coach Bill Herrion were assistant coaches
together on the USA 22 and under team that won
the Gold Medal at the World Junior Championships
in 1996.
•Clemson has a +6.9 rebound margin for the year
and has been out-rebounded just once in the first
11 games of the season. Clemson has won the second
chance points statistic in 10 of the first 11 games.
•Sharrod Ford has made 40 of his last 65 shots from
the field and was Clemson’s top scorer in Hawaii
with a 15.3 average. He also had 9.7 rebounds per
game and recorded his 15th career double-double
•Clemson had 41 points from its bench in the win
over Indiana State in Hawaii. Clemson’s bench has
won the scoring battle in nine of the first 11 games
this year, including each of the last six games.
Clemson averages 25 points per game off the bench
this season.
•Clemson point guard Vernon Hamilton averaged 10
points per game and made 54.5 percent of his field
goal attempts in the three games in Hawaii. He had
five steals against Georgetown and now has 29 for
the season, among the ACC leaders. Hamilton still
has more steals (29) than fouls (25) this year.
•Two of the more prominent players in Wednesday’s
game will be named Hammonds. Clemson freshman
Cliff Hammonds is third on the club in scoring
with an 11.0 average. East Carolina’s Tom
Hammonds, Jr, son of the former Georgia Tech All-
American of the 1980s, is fourth on the East Carolina
team in scoring with a 6.7 average.
•Clemson did not make a three-point goal in the second
half against Georgetown, but extended its streak
of consecutive games with at least one three-point
goal to 410. Shawan Robinson (24) and Cliff
Hammonds (20) have 44 of Clemson’s 58 threepoint
goals so far this season.
First Meeting with East Carolina
This will be the first time Clemson has
played East Carolina on the hard court. This is
the second consecutive game and the fourth
time this year that Clemson has faced a first
time opponent. The others have been
Hampton, Norfolk State and Georgetown.
It will be just the 22nd game for the
Tiger program against a team from the 14-
member Conference USA, but the second time
the Tigers have played a school from that
conference in the last four games. Clemson is
7-14 all-time against teams from Conference
USA. The Tigers met UAB in the first round of
the Outriggers Rainbow Classic and UAB won
that game, 78-66. Clemson last defeated a
team from Conference USA on December 22,
2002 when Clemson defeated Cincinnati 58-51
in a game played at The Civic Center of
Anderson, South Carolina.
While this will be the first meeting for
Clemson against East Carolina, it won’t be the
first game for Clemson Head Coach Oliver
Purnell against the Pirates. This will be his 11th
game for a third different school against East
Carolina in his 17-year career as a Division I
head coach. Purnell has a 7-3 record against
East Carolina in his career, 1-2 when he was
the head coach at Radford between 1988-89
and 1990-91, and 6-1 when he was the head
coach at Old Dominion between 1991-92 and
1993-94.
Tigers and Pirates Have One Common
Opponent
Clemson and East Carolina have one
common opponent so far this season, the
University of South Carolina. Clemson defeated
the Gamecocks, 63-62, in overtime on
December 4 and South Carolina defeated East
Carolina on December 20 by a 57-53 score.
Both games were played in Columbia, SC and
came down to the final minute.
Clemson won the game with a threepoint
goal by Cheyenne Moore with 3.4
seconds left in overtime. The Tigers shot just
36.8 percent for the game, but did make 8
three-point goals in gaining the victory. East
Carolina had 22 turnovers in the contest and
shot just 35 percent from the field. Both teams
out-rebounded the Gamecocks, as Clemson
won 46-38 and East Carolina won the rebound
margin, 43-31.
East Carolina has also played ACC
school NC State and the Wolfpack won that
game in Raleigh 100-66 in the third game of the
season. But, Clemson is yet to play the
Wolfpack.
Clemson Has Made a Three-Point Goal in
410 Consecutive Games
Clemson shot just 9-41 on three-point
attempts in the Rainbow Classic, but still had at
least one three-point goal in every game,
extending its streak of consecutive games with
at least one three-point goal to 410. The
Rainbow Classic played with a 20-foot-six-inch
three-point goal line, nine inches longer than
the normal 19-9 distance. Clemson was 5-19 in
the opening round game against UAB, 2-10 in
the win over Indiana State and 2-12 in the loss
to Georgetown, including a 0-9 second half.
Clemson’s streak of consecutive
games with at least one three-point goal dates
to the 1990-91 season. The Tigers were 0-7 on
three-point goals at Wake Forest on Feb. 24,
1991 in an 81-55 loss in Joel Coliseum. Earlier
that year Clemson was 0-17 from long range in
a loss to UNC-Charlotte, the most three point
attempts without a make in Clemson history.
Twice last year Clemson made just one threepoint
goal in a game, at Purdue in December
(1-12) and at home against Duke (1-7).
Three-point shooting had been a
positive for the Tigers entering the tournament
in Hawaii. Clemson was shooting .363 (49-135)
through the first eight games, all with the 19-9
distance. Clemson ranked fifth in the ACC in
three-point shooting entering the Rainbow and
still has the .363 percentage from 19-9 for this
season. The distance could have made a
difference in the Rainbow. Clemson opponents
shot just 15-51 from three-point range, a .294
figure.
For the year, Clemson has 58 threepoint
goals in 11 games, an average of 5.3
three-point goals per game. Shawn Robinson
(24-59) and Cliff Hammonds (20-52) have 44 of
the 58 made three-point goals so far this
season.
Clemson Schedule Notes
Clemson’s meeting with East Carolina
will be its 12th consecutive non-conference
game and its final non-conference game until
Feb. 16 when the Tigers play host to Georgia at
the BiLo Center in Greenville, SC. The Tigers
begin conference play at Duke on Sunday
evening January 2 for an 8:00 PM game. That
will be Clemson’s only road Sunday of the
season, certainly a schedule note that should
help the academic performance for the Tigers
this semester. In fact, Clemson has just three
weekday road trips the entire academic year
while school is in session.
When Clemson plays at Cameron
Indoor Stadium on Sunday night it will be the
first of five ACC road games within the first
seven games of the schedule. Clemson is the
only ACC school that has to play five of its first
seven conference games on the road. Clemson
and NC State are the only ACC schools that
play five of its first eight ACC games on the
road.
It is the first time Clemson has had to
play five of its first seven ACC games on the
road since the 2001-02 season and just the
second time in the last 17 years. In 1987-88
Cliff Ellis’s Tigers had to play five of their first
six on the road, including games at NC State, Maryland and Virginia from
a Wednesday to a Sunday.
Clemson will make up for its road trips early with a stretch of
four consecutive ACC home games between January 29-Feb. 12. This
will be the first time Clemson has had four straight home conference
games since January 19-30, 1985. In addition to those four ACC home
games Jan. 29-Feb. 12, Clemson has a home game against Georgia at
the BiLo Center on Feb. 16. That means Clemson wonÇt have an
overnight road trip between January 27-Feb. 17, 22 consecutive days.
Clemson’s 16 ACC games include two games apiece against
Miami (FL), Virginia Tech, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina,
and Maryland. Clemson will play just one game apiece against Wake
Forest (home), NC State (home), Duke (away) and Virginia (away).
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