Game Notes for Men’s Matchup with Wake Forest

Jan. 19, 2001

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Clemson vs. Wake Forest Series *Wake Forest has an 85-49 lead in the series with Clemson over the years. The Tigers have a 32-30 lead in games played at Clemson, while the Deacs have a 45-12 lead in games played at Wake Forest. Wake Forest also leads in neutral site games, 10-5. Clemson has an 18-14 lead in games played at Littlejohn Coliseum.

*Wake Forest has won four in a row and 17 of the last 22 overall. They have won 10 in a row in Lawrence Joel Coliseum.

*Clemson is 12-45 lifetime at Wake Forest, including 1-10 in games played in the Lawrence Joel Coliseum. Clemson has lost 10 straight in the facility that was opened for the 1989-90 season. Clemson won that game behind Dale Davis and Elden Campbell, 89-75, but the Tigers have not won since. Clemson has been within 10 points of Wake Forest in Joel Coliseum three of the last four years, but has failed to gain victory.

*Clemson downed Wake Forest two of three games in 1997-98, by 25 at Clemson and by 19 in the NCAA Tournament in Greensboro. Clemson used dominant second halves in both victories. Wake Forest led at the half in both games, including an eight-point margin in the ACC Tournament game. But, Clemson outscored the Deacs 43-17 in the game at Clemson and 43-16 in the game at Greensboro.

*Clemson has struggled offensively against Wake Forest in each of the last four contests with the Deacs, all Wake Forest victories. Clemson has failed to reach 70 points in each of the four games and has averaged just 61.5 points a game in that stretch. Clemson has shot just 39.7 percent (83-209) from the field in the last four games combined against Wake Forest.

Meetings in 1999-00Wake Forest 67, Clemson 53Jan. 9, 2000 at Clemson Wake Forest outscored Clemson 12-4 over the last 2:30 of the game and went on to a 67-53 win over the Tigers in Littlejohn Coliseum on January 9, 2000. Clemson had cut the margin to 55-49 with 2:52 left on a three-point goal by Pasha Bains. But Darius Songaila scored six points in the final 2:30 to help the Deacons to the victory.

Clemson was led by Will Solomon with 26 points, five assists and just two turnovers. He also held Robert O’Kelley to 4-13 shooting on the defensive end of the court. It was another outstanding performance for the Clemson sophomore. He had 49 percent of the points against the Demon Deacons, the second time this year he has had that high a percentage.

Solomon was the only Tiger in double figures. Adam Allenspach and Pash Bains added eight apiece for the Tigers. Allenspach also had a team best nine rebounds, while Andrius Jurkunas had eight rebounds, including five offensive.

Clemson struggled from the field, especially early. The Tigers scored just six points in the game’s first 13 minutes and were 3-21 from the field. The Tigers ended the first half 8-32 and trailed 26-18. The poor shooting was evident for both teams. In fact, at one point in the second half, Clemson was 12-41 and Wake Forest 13-41 from the field. Wake Forest held leads from 11 to 14 most of the second half. Will Solomon kept Clemson in the game, he scored 14 of Clemson’s first 18 of the second half and scored 11 points in a row for Clemson at one juncture.

It was 51-38 with seven minutes left when Clemson made a run. The Tigers cut the margin to six, then later had a three-point shot that could have cut the margin to four, but Pasha Bains shot went off the rim.

Clemson made just 20-60 from the field, and that included just 4-23 from three-point land. The Tigers made 81.8 percent of their free throws, but the Deacons attempted 36 to just 11 for the Tigers. Clemson won the rebound battle 44-38.

Wake Forst 79, Clemson 63at Wake Forest, Feb. 8, 2000 Wake Forest placed five players in double figures and shot 48 percent from the field and defeated Clemson 79-63 victory at Winston Salem on Feb. 8, 2000. It was Clemson’s 10th straight loss at Winston-Salem. Darius Songaila scored 16 points to lead the Demon Deacons, who swept the season series from Clemson.

Wake Forest made 33-40 free throws in the game, 82.5 percent. They entered the game with just a 63 percent mark from the line. Wake Forest’s top two free throw attempt games of the season were against Clemson. They had 36 attempts in the game at Clemson in January. Wake Forest had a +8 in turnover margin, as the Tigers committed 20 and the Deacs had just 12.

Clemson was led in scoring by Will Solomon, who had his second straight superb performance against Wake Forest. The sophomore scored 29 points on 9-16 shooting from the field, he also made 4-8 three-point attempts and 7-10 from the line. He played all 40 minutes. Point guard Edward Scott had 11 points and six rebounds in playing 35 minutes. He made three three-point goals in the contest. But, the rest of the Clemson team scored just23 points.

Clemson shot the ball fairly well, 43 percent from behind the arc and 43 percent overall. Clemson was at 47 percent for most of the game until they had to force shots in the last few minutes in an effort to catch up.

Wake Forest held just a 7-6 lead in the game’s first nine minutes, but the Deacs went on a 13-4 run in a four-minute spurt to take a 20-10 lead. It was balanced scoring by Wake Forest in the first half, but Songaila did score 11 to lead the way. Josh Howard added nine on 3-4 shooting, as Wake Forest led 34-21 at intermission. The Deacs shot 54 percent in the first half.

Clemson made a couple of runs in the second half. Solomon hit consecutive three-point goals to cut the margin to 11 at 42-31. Clemson got the margin to eight at 49-41 with 10:28 remaining on a layup by Adam Allenspach, but that was as close as Clemson got the rest of the game. Josh Shoemaker scored 10 points in th last five minutes of the game to hold off Clemson.

Solomon Outstanding vs. Wake Forest Last Year Clemson guard Will Solomon had a first-team All-ACC season as a sophomore. Part of the reason for his selection was his play against Wake Forest. In two games against the Demon Deacons he scored 55 points, 26 in the game at Clemson, 29 in the game at Wake Forest. In the two games combined he made 17 of 35 shots from the field, including 6-16 three-point shots and 15-19 from the line. Wake Forest was the only ACC team that Solomon had a pair of 25-point scoring games against in 1999-00.

Last Game ReviewNorth Carolina 92, Clemson 65 North Carolina used a balanced attack, a 24/12 assist/turnover ratio and a season high 12 made three-point goals in defeating Clemson 92-65 on January 17. It was the 47th straight victory for North Carolina over the Tigers in Chapel Hill.

Clemson was led by Will Solomon, who scored 17 points, but 15 of those came in the first 12 minutes of the game. North Carolina made a point of stopping him after his 6-9 shooting start. Dwon Clifton added nine points, as did Jamar McKnight, who played just 11 minutes.

Clemson held its own in terms of rebounding, tying the larger Tar Heels 41-41 in that area. A big difference came in the area of turnovers, where North Carolina committed only 12, while the Tigers had 20. North Carolina had nine blocked shots, including six by senior center Brendan Haywood. Joseph Forte led North Carolina in scoring with 13, while Kris Lang added 13. Jason Capel had 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Clemson center Adam Allenspach played just seven minutes due to back spasms and did not score. Freshman Chris Hobbs, returning to his hometown of Chapel Hill, had eight rebounds in just 13 minutes, but fouled out. Ray Henderson, also a North Carolina native, had eight rebounds in 23 minutes.

Clemson was competitive for the first 15 minutes, trailing by just 34-26. But, North Carolina extended the lead to 44-31 by intermission. The Tigers made just 3 of their first 16 shots and committed seven turnovers over the first seven minutes of the second half. North Carolina used a 20-4 run during that time to take a 29-point lead.

Clemson finally got its offense untracked the last five minutes of the game, scoring 20 points in that time period. Clemson shot 39 percent for the game, including a solid 38 percent on three-point shots. North Carolina hit 51 percent from the field, including 12-27 on three-point goals. Six different Tar Heels made at least one three-point goal, including point guard Ronald Curry, who was 2-3 from long range.

Tigers From North Carolina Clemson is at the end of a four-game stretch in which it plays all four ACC teams from the state of North Carolina. The Tigers played at Duke on January 7, its first ACC road game of the year. Clemson was at North Carolina on January 17 and now at Wake Forest on Sunday. That means Clemson will play three of the North Carolina “Big Four” on the road within its first five league games within a 14-day period.

This Clemson team does not mind going to the Tar Heel state because six of Clemson’s 16 roster players are from North Carolina. The list includes five scholarship players and one walk-on. Starters Dwon Clifton (Louisburg), and Chris Hobbs (Chapel Hill) is also from the Tar Heel state. Chucky Gilmore, a starter last year who is out for the year with a torn ACL injury, is from Fayetteville. Walker Holt is a guard from Greensboro, while walk-on guard Wes Long is from Charlotte.

Clemson started an all North Carolina frontline in the win over NC State and the loss in Chapel Hill. Dwon Clifton at small forward, Chris Hobbs at power forward and Ray Henderson at center against NC State. All three played well in the win over NC State. Clifton had a season high nine points, hit 4-6 from the field, including an important three-pointer in the second half. Hobbs had his fourth double-double of the season, collecting 10 points, 11 rebounds in 28 minutes. Henderson had 10 rebounds and eight points in 26 minutes.

This is the largest contingent of North Carolina residents on the Clemson roster in history.

Tough Schedule for Clemson this Week25-Year Anniversary of Top 5 Road Wins this Week Clemson has quite a challenge this week, playing a pair of top 10 ACC teams on the road. First Clemson played at North Carolina on Wednesday. Now, Clemson goes to Wake Forest, where it has not won since the 1989-90 season, Elden Campbell’s senior season.

Believe it or not, Clemson has beaten two top 10 ACC teams on the road in the same week. In fact, it was a pair of top five wins within a four-day period. Bill Foster, in his first two ACC road games as Clemson head coach, won at fifth ranked Wake Forest (86-81) and at second ranked Maryland (82-77) in consecutive games played January 17, 1976 and January 21, 1976, respectively. Those were in fact the first two Clemson road wins over top 20 teams in history. Clemson had a junior center named Tree Rollins who contributed greatly to those two wins. Those are two of the three top five road wins in Clemson history.

Clemson plays at North Carolina on January 17 and at Wake Forest on January 21, so this week’s games will be the exact 25-year anniversary of those two victories.

Clemson has 10 wins over ranked ACC teams on the road in its history. Clemson has three wins over ranked teams on the road in the last six years with the last coming in the 1996-97 season at Maryland.

Clemson Wins over Ranked ACC Teams on the Road

1-17-76 at Wake Forest 86-81 +5 5-5 1-21-76 at Maryland82-77 +5 2-3 2-8-77 at Wake Forest 70-66 +4 4-6 2-15-78 at Virginia63-55 +8 17-16 2-29-84 at Duke 77-76 +1 15-18 1-8-85 at GeorgiaTech 90-81 +9 8-7 2-4-93 at Georgia Tech 83-80 +3 22-22 1-4-95 atDuke 75-70 +5 11-9 12-7-96 at Virginia 62-52 +10 25-NR 1-15-97 atMaryland 67-63 +4 11-12

Clemson Out of the Basement Clemson has already reached its victory total of last year. In 1999-00, Clemson had a 10-20 ledger. Clemson has a 10-7 record heading into the Wake Forest game. The Tigers earned their 10th win with the 72-69 victory over NC State on January 13th.

The win over NC State moved Clemson out of the basement in the ACC standings for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Clemson got off to an 0-5 start last year and never got ahead of Georgia Tech or Florida State during the season. Clemson and Tech were tied at 4-11 heading into the last regular season game, but the Yellow Jackets won that game, moving Clemson to the number-nine seed for the tournament.

Entering this week, Clemson was in seventh place with a 1-2 mark. NC State and Florida State were both 0-3.

Allenspach Questionable for Wake Forest Clemson’s only senior on the roster, Adam Allenspach, did not play in Clemson’s win over NC State. He played just seven minutes and did not score at North Carolina. The 7-1 center, who has played 110 games in his Clemson career, missed the NC State game due to inflamation of the Sacroilliac Joint (where hip meeds the spine). The problem caused back spasms and a loss of motion and mobility. He is day to day and would be classified as questionable for the Wake Forest game.

Allenspach had surgery this past summer to repair a herniated disk. He has been troubled by the back problems off and on since last year. He first went down due to the injury last year at Duke when he collapsed just six minutes into the game due to the pain.

Allenspach has had many highlight moments this year. He is still tied for first in the league leaders in double-doubles with six. He had four in succession until the streak came to an end against Cincinnati during a game in Puerto Rico.

Allenspach had scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds vs. Wofford Dec. 16 and had 15 points and15 rebounds at South Carolina, then 20 points and 10 rebounds vs. Winthrop. The last Tiger to post four consecutive double-doubles was Sharone Wright, who last did it his sophomore year in 1992-93.

For the season, Allenspach is still third on the club in scoring and first in rebounding. He has averaged 10.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per contest and leads the team in blocked shots with 12. For his career, he has averaged 6.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and has shot 70.1 percent from the foul line, one of the top percentages in history for a Clemson center.