Clemson Men’s Basketball to Play Host to South Carolina State Tuesday Night

Dec. 28, 2009

GAME SETUPSite: Littlejohn Coliseum (10,000)Date: Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009City: Clemson, SCTime: 7:30 PMTV: NoneWeb: TigerCast (ClemsonTigers.com) (Roy Philpott – play-by-play, Alex Welp – color)Radio: Clemson Tiger Sports Properties (Pete Yanity – play-by-play, Tim Bourret – color)Rankings: Clemson: #21 AP, #18 ESPN/USA Today

SERIES NOTESOverall: Clemson leads 8-1at Clemson: Clemson leads 7-1at Littlejohn: Clemson leads 7-1at SC State: Clemson leads 1-0at Neutral: None playedFirst Meeting: Clemson, 93-70, in 1988-89Last Meeting: Clemson, 90-63, in 2008-09Streak: Clemson has won three straight

QUICK FACTS

Clemson and SC State will meet for the 10th time on the hardwood Tuesday. The Tigers hold an 8-1 advantage over the Bulldogs, who won their only game in the series against Clemson during the 1999-2000 season.
The Tigers have won five games in a row, including last time out against Western Carolina, who had won nine straight entering the Dec. 22 clash. Clemson had a late 19-0 run that sealed a 79-57 victory over the Catamounts.
The Bulldogs enter Tuesday¹s game with a 6-3 record. SC State last played on Dec. 21, falling at Iowa by a score of 82-69. SC State has also played Miami out of the ACC, but lost 91-54 in Coral Gables.
Clemson moved up in both of the national polls released Monday, Dec. 28. The Tigers are 18th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches¹ poll and No. 21 in the AP poll. Clemson has been ranked in at least one of the major polls for eight consecutive weeks, beginning in the preseason.
Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell is 22nd on the all-time victory list among ACC coaches. He has 128 total wins, two more than the late Skip Prosser had at Wake Forest.
Clemson has shot 60 percent or better from the field in consecutive games, a first for the Tiger program since the 1986-87 season. That season, Clemson shot 60 percent against Armstrong State on Dec. 17 and 62.3 percent versus Delaware State on Dec. 29.
Following a season-high 31 points against Western Carolina, Trevor Booker now ranks 12th in Clemson history among the all-time scoring leaders with 1,434 points. He needs just 32 to pass former teammate Cliff Hammonds for 10th.
Devin Booker has made 17 of his last 24 field goal attempts, over the course of Clemson¹s last four games. That equates to 71 percent. He now leads the team in field goal accuracy at 66 percent for the season. ÂÂÂ Demontez Stitt needs just three steals against SC State to reach 100 for his career. The junior point guard, voted Clemson¹s Defensive MVP at the conclusion of last season, ranks eighth in the ACC with 1.6 steals per game.
Stitt has reached double figures in six of the last eight games, averaging 12.3 points per game during that stretch.
Tanner Smith continues to perform at a high level for the Tigers. The second-leading scorer on the Tiger team ranks fifth among all players in the ACC with a +7.3 improvement in his scoring average.
Milton Jennings has played some of his best basketball for Clemson in recent games. The 6-foot-9 forward from Summerville, SC has made 12 of his last 18 field goal attempts, or 67 percent, over the last four games. He has averaged 7.3 points per game during that stretch.
Andre Young has 26 steals this season, compared to just 19 turnovers. Over the course of his career, he has 57 steals and only 42 giveaways. Young ranks third in the ACC with 2.0 steals per game.
With his five-block outburst against Western Carolina, Jerai Grant ranks fourth in the ACC in blocks per game (1.6).