CLEMSON BASKETBALL

Clemson Basketball 2005-06 Season Notes


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· Clemson ended the season with four players averaging in double figures, a first by a Tiger team since 2001-02. Shawan Robinson won the scoring title with a 12.3 average, while Akin Akingbala was second at 12.1 points per game. Vernon Hamilton scored 12.0 and Cliff Hammonds averaged 10.1

· Vernon Hamilton finished the season with 83 steals, a Clemson single season record. He will enter his senior year with 201 career steals, already the Clemson single season record. His 2.2 average is 11th best in ACC history.

· Akin Akingbala had 19 points and 13 rebounds in his final game as a Tiger. It was his eight double-double in his last 11 games. He had just three double-doubles in his first 94 games at Clemson. He averaged 15.5 points and 11 rebounds a game over his last eight games of the season and scored in double figures in 13 of his last 14 games.

· Akingbala might hold the distinction of being the first player in NCAA history to play four years and not score a three-point goal until the final five seconds of his career. He scored his first career three point goal with 4.6 seconds left in the Louisville game, his first career made three-point goal. He had attempted just one in his career prior to that. He is tied for the second tallest Clemson player in history to make a three-point goal. Horace Grant at 6-10 and one inch taller than Akingbala, scored a three-point goal at Virginia on Valentine's Day 1987, a shot that gave Clemson a 94-90 overtime victory.

· Cliff Hammonds needed 14 points against Louisville to reach a 10 point scoring average for the season. Hammonds scored 16 to finish the year with a 10.1 average. He has now scored in double figures in his freshman and sophomore seasons, the first Tiger to do that since Terrell McIntyre in 1995-96 and 1996-97. Hammonds has now scored 56 points in three NIT games in his career, a 18.6 average.

· Clemson had 13 steals at Louisville and finished the year with a school record 352 thefts for the season, 20 more than the 1989-90 Clemson team recorded. This year's team also established the school record on a per game basis with 11.0. The Tigers are third in the nation in the latest NCAA stats and figure to finish in that position unless some team makes a great run in the NCAA or NIT. This will be the highest Clemson team ranking in any statistical category since the Tigers led the nation in assists per game since 1983-84.

· Shawan Robinson completed the season with a .913 free throw percentage by hitting 84-92 free throws. That .913 figure is the fourth best in ACC history, trailing just three seasons by J.J. Redick (his first three years at Duke). Robinson is currently fifth in the nation in free throw shooting, which figures to be the highest ranking for a Clemson player in this category since Jim Sutherland finished fourth in 1966-67. Robinson also will lead the ACC in free throw shooting, the first Tiger to do that since Sutherland in 1966-67.

· Robinson concludes his career ranked third in career three-point goals (202), sixth in career free throw percentage (.832), and sixth in career three-point goal percentage (.379). He scored 1177 career points, 20th in school history. He went ahead of Randy Mahaffey in the NIT game at Louisville.

· Clemson finished the season with 19 victories, its high total since the 1998-99 season when Clemson was 20-15. The Tigers 19-13 final record is the best by a Clemson team in terms of winning percentage since the 1996-97 team finished with a 23-10 mark. The 19 victories tied for the eighth highest figure in Clemson history. The 7-9 ACC record was also the best by a Clemson team since the 1997-98 team finished 7-9.

· Clemson's 19th win of the season was over Louisiana Tech in the NIT. It marked the first time in seven years that Clemson won a postseason tournament game.

· Clemson was in 30 of its 32 games this year. The Tigers lost just two games by more than 10 points, at Miami (FL) and at North Carolina. Clemson lost eight points by six points or less.

· Clemson finished the season with a 74.3 team scoring average, the highest by a Clemson team since the 1993-94 team averaged 75.2 points per game.

2005-06 Men's Basketball

19-13, 7-9 ACC, 0-1 ACC Tournament, 1-1 NIT

Date Day Site W-L Score Opponent Attend
11/05 Sat H W 101-59 | Johnson C. Smith EXH
11/18 Fri H W 84-55 Bethune-Cookman 6,024
11/21 Mon H W 102-71 Coppin State 5,800
11/23 Wed H W 79-38 South Carolina State 5,500
11/26 Sat A W 68-56 Charleston Southern 4,068
11/29 Tues A W 96-88 Penn State 6,108
12/03 Sat H W 82-63 South Carolina 8,400
12/06 Tues H W 62-60 | P Wofford 6,500
12/09 Fri H W 80-72 East Tennessee State 7,854
12/19 Mon N1 W 101-60 Puerto Rico-Mayaguez 180
12/20 Tues N1 W 71-48 Holy Cross 150
12/21 Wed N1 W 66-59 Akron 312
12/28 Wed A L 69-72 Georgia 9,204
12/30 Fri H L 69-74 Elon 4,500
01/04 Wed H W 61-55 Florida State 4,800
01/07 Sat A L 58-64 Virginia 8,279
01/11 Wed H W-OT 74-73 Wake Forest 9,400
01/14 Sat H L 77-87 Duke (1,1) 10,000
01/18 Wed A L 38-62 Miami 7,000
01/21 Sat A W 73-63 Georgia Tech 9,191
01/29 Sun H L-OT 85-94 North Carolina State (15,14) 8,600
02/01 Wed A L 59-69 Florida State 7,307
02/04 Sat A L 61-76 North Carolina 21,352
02/08 Wed H L-OT 74-75 Virginia Tech 8,000
02/11 Sat A L 61-67 Boston College (17,18) 8,606
02/14 Tues H W 89-77 Maryland 7,600
02/22 Wed A L-OT 68-74 Wake Forest 14,665
02/25 Sat H W 90-64 Virginia 8,000
03/01 Wed A W 86-81 Virginia Tech 9,847
03/02 Sat H W 95-82 Georgia Tech 8,200
ACC Tournament
03/09 Thurs N2 L 63-66 Miami 23,745
NIT
03/15 Wed H W 69-53 Louisiana Tech 4,200
03/20 Mon A L 68-74 Louisville 12,344
N1-San Juan Shootout, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico N2-ACC Tournament, Greensboro, NC

Roster

#33 F Akin Akingbala 6-9 220
#4 C Steve Allen 6-10 230
#3 G Vernon Hamilton 6-0 192
#25 G Cliff Hammonds 6-3 175
#20 G Troy Mathis 6-0 200
#44 F James Mays 6-9 215
#24 F Matt Morris 6-5 200
#32 F Sam Perry 6-5 190
#42 F Julius Powell 6-7 190
#1 G K.C. Rivers 6-5 180
#22 G Shawan Robinson 6-2 183
#12 F Raymond Sykes 6-9 200

Coaching Staff

Oliver Purnell Old Dominion '75
Ron Bradley Eastern Nazarene '74
Kevin Nickleberry Va Wesleyan '86
Frank Smith Old Dominion '88
Alex Welp Wittenberg '01
Will Wade Clemson '05

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