Final 2009-10 Clemson Basketball Notes

March 20, 2010

Team

Clemson finished the season with a 21-11 record, its fourthconsecutive 20-win season. It is the first time Clemson has hadfour consecutive 20-win seasons in its history. The 2009-10 seasonmarked just the 11th 20-win season in Clemson history. Clemson’ssenior class of Trevor Booker and David Potter finishes with 93wins, a Clemson record for a four-year class. That included 35regular season ACC wins, also a school record for a senior class.The 93 victories are topped only by North Carolina and Duke amongACC schools for the last four years. The seniors finish with arecord of 93-41 for the four years, a .694 winning percentage. Thatis also the school record for the best winning percentage by asenior class. The seniors of 1979-80 had a 79-37 record for a .681winning percentage and that was the previous best. Clemson reachedthe NCAA Tournament for the third straight year, just the secondtime Clemson has had three straight years in the tournament. Theonly other era was the 1996-98 era under Rick Barnes. Clemson wasone of 21 schools to play in the NCAA Tournament each of the lastthree years. Clemson and Duke are the only ACC teams to play ineach of the last three NCAA Tournaments. Clemson reached the NCAATournament this year even though it had just two returning startersfrom last year. The 2009-10 Clemson team is the first in schoolhistory to reach the NCAA Tournament in a year it had just tworeturning starters. Since Clemson joined the ACC in 1953-54,Clemson had a 44 percent winning percentage (entering this year) inyears it had just two returning starters. Clemson finished the ACCregular season with a 9-7 record, the program’s third straightwinning season in ACC play. This is the first time in Clemsonbasketball history that the program has had three consecutivewinning seasons in ACC play. Clemson finished the year with sixwins over teams in the NCAA Tournament, tied for the third most inClemson history, and five over RPI top 50 teams. Clemson had a #34RPI rating entering the NCAA Tournament, including a #24 schedulerating. Clemson posted a 7-1 record in home ACC games, tied for thebest mark in that category since the ACC went to a 16-game schedulein 1991-92. The only ACC team to win at Clemson this year was ACCchampion Duke. Clemson was also 7-1 in 2007-08. Clemson was 7-0 inleague home games in 1979-80 and 1989-90. Clemson set a school markfor three-point field goal percentage defense this year. The Tigersallowed just .294 shooting from long range this year. Clemsonfinished the season with 301 steals in 32 games and will finish inthe top 15 in the nation in that category for the sixth straightyear. The 2009-10 season included the appearance of ESPN CollegeGameday at Clemson, the first appearance for the program atLittlejohn Coliseum. Clemson became just the 16th school to haveESPN Gameday on its campus for both football and basketball.

Head Coach Oliver Purnell

Oliver Purnell established a Clemson career coaching record forACC road wins when the Tigers won at NC State in January. He nowhas 16, including the Feb. win at Florida State. Purnell moved intofirst place in Clemson history in career winning percentage inoverall games (.611) and in ACC games (.434). He enters the 2010-11season with 138 wins as Clemson head coach, third highest total inschool history. Cliff Ellis, who coached at Clemson for 10 years,had 177. Purnell has averaged 19.7 wins per year at Clemson,including 21.3 wins per year over the last six seasons. Clemson hasnow gone to postseason play six consecutive years, tied for thelongest streak in Clemson history. All six appearances have takenplace under Head Coach Oliver Purnell. Clemson also went to sixstraight postseason tournaments under Cliff Ellis from 1985-90.When Clemson defeated North Carolina and Roy Williams in January itgave Purnell four wins over Hall of Fame Head Coaches in the lastfour years. He has two wins over Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, one ofWilliams and one of Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim in the lastfour seasons.

Individual

Trevor Booker was named first-team All-ACC in 2009-10, just thethird first-team All-ACC player for the Clemson program in the last20 years and the first post player in 20 years to make the firstteam. Booker also made first-team All-ACC Defense and was the onlyACC player to make both teams this year. Booker finished his careerwith 1,725 career points and 1,060 career rebounds. He finishesfifth in Clemson history in scoring and third in rebounding. He isone of just eight ACC players (historically) in the top five ofboth categories at his respective ACC school. Booker finishes hiscareer with 1725 points, 1060 rebounds, 249 blocked shots, 224assists and 144 steals. He is the only player in ACC history with1500 points, 1000 rebounds, 200 blocks and 100 steals. Bookerstarted all 134 games of his Clemson career. He finished his careerwith more starts and consecutive starts than any player in Clemsonhistory and tied the record for total games played with 134. Bookeris one of the most consistent players in Clemson history. He scoredexactly 374 points in each of his first two years, then scored 491as a junior in 32 games and 486 in 32 games as a senior. Bookerfinished his career in the top 10 in Clemson history in 11different categories. He is fifth in scoring (1,725), third inrebounding (1,060), fourth in blocked shots (249), fourth in doublefigure scoring games (94), fifth in double-doubles (32), ninth infield goal percentage (.559), eighth in playing time (3808), secondin field goals (687), first in games started (134), tied for firstin games played (134) and 10th in steals (144). From an ACCstandpoint, Booker finished his career 13th in league history inblocked shots (249) and 22nd in career rebounding (1060). He movedahead of former Maryland player Len Elmore on the all-time ACC listin his final game when he had 11 against Missouri. Ironically,Elmore was the color commentator for CBS for that NCAA Tournamentgame. Domontez Stitt concluded the season with an 11.4 average,second to Booker’s 15.2. Stitt improved his three-point shootingpercentage from .273 as a sophomore to .393 as a junior. He scoreda career high tying 21 points against Missouri, thanks to 4-5three-point shooting, in the NCAA Tournament. He also improved hisfree throw percentage from .673 as a sophomore to .783 as a junior.Tanner Smith and Andre Young were both chosen first-team AcademicAll-ACC. Smith also made the CoSIDA All-District team. Andre Youngcame off the bench this year, but still ranked fifth in the ACC insteals. He finished the season with 54 to lead the Clemson team. Hehad seven against Maryland in Clemson’s victory over the Terps onJan. 31 to tie a Clemson single game record, and that was the moststeals in a game by an ACC player in 2009-10. Young got thosesteals without fouling. He finished the year with 54 steals andjust 45 fouls. For his career he has 85 steals and just 79 fouls.Stitt and Young will both return next season and they are theco-holders of the Clemson career record for total three-point goalsin NCAA Tournament games. Stitt is 8-10 from long distance in NCAAgames for his career and Young is 8-13. Young made 5-8 againstMissouri and Stitt made 4-5.