Friday 01/14/2000
Jan. 14, 2000
Clemson Injury Update Clemson continues to have players miss practice due to injury. On Friday, the day before the Virginia game, Tomas Nagys and Edward Scott missed practice. Nagys was out with a case of the flu, but is expected to be available for the Virginia game. Scott has a cartilage problem in his chest, the same injury that plagued Ray Henderson earlier this year. He suffered the injury while diving for a loose ball in the first half at Florida State and likely will miss the Virginia game. His absence does not come at a good time as the Tigers prepare to face a Virginia team that forces 20 turnovers per game. Pasha Bains is slated to start that contest.
Dustin Braddick, who has missed the last five games after undergoing two right foot surgeries, was back at practice for an hour on Friday, his first practice since December 17. He could see some action on Saturday against Virginia. When he was healthy earlier in the year, he ranked in the top 10 in the ACC in rebounding and assists before the injury sent him to the sidelines.
Clemson has not had its full roster of scholarship players available for one practice all year. In addition to the above injury problems, Chuck Gilmore has missed three games with a concussion, Andrius Jurkunas missed four games with a broken thumb and Scott missed three games with a broken foot.
Clemson vs. Virginia Series Virginia holds a 54-43 advantage in the series with Clemson, a series that dates to 1936 when Clemson won at Charlottesville, 45-34. That was the only meeting between the two teams prior to the formation of the ACC. Since 1955 Clemson and Virginia have met at least twice per season.
Clemson has won four of the last six and five of eight, but prior to that Virginia had won seven in a row and 10 of 11. Clemson has won four in a row over Virginia in Littlejohn Coliseum by an average of 14 points. That includes Clemson’s impressive 88-65 win last year. The last two years Clemson has won by an average of 20 points against Virginia in Littlejohn Coliseum, but lost by an average of 5.5 points in Charlottesville.
Clemson must hope the contest is not close, because the Tigers don’t fare well in close games agaisnt Virginia. In fact, in the last 21 years, regardless of site, Clemson is 2-15 against the Cavaliers in games decided by five points or less. That includes six straight losses since a 65-62 Clemson win at Clemson in 1988, a game that was won on a baseline jumper by Elden Campbell in the last five seconds of the game.
For a period of time the series featured many close games. In the 1980s, 11 games were decided by five points or less, including nine that were decided by two or one point. In the 1990s, just five have been decided by five or less, but just one of the last 12 meetings.
University Hall has been a building of horrors for Clemson the last 21 years. Clemson has a 3-18 record in the building since 1979 and all three wins have come in special seasons.
The Tigers won in 1987 by a 94-90 score thanks to a late three-point goal in overtime by Horace Grant, the only three-point goal of his career and a four-point play by Anthony Jenkins. Clemson finished with a school record 25 wins that year. In 1990, Clemson gained victory 76-70 behind Dale Davis and Elden Campbell. Cliff Ellis’s Tigers claimed the school’s only ACC regular season championship that year.
And, two years ago the Tigers defeated a 25th ranked Virginia team, 62-52. That Clemson team, went on to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and won 23 games.
Virginia 65, Clemson 58 At Charlottesville, VA
Donald Hand outscored Terrell McIntyre 27-2 in the first meeting between Clemson and Virginia at Charlottesville last year. Hand hit 6-10 three-point goals in the contest, while McIntyre had a career low two points and was 0-6 from behind the arc. The victory was Virginia’s first of the ACC season after five conference losses.
Virginia held a 33-29 advantage at halftime behind 17 points from Hand’s hot hand (5-7 three-point shots), but Clemson led in the second half, as late as 53-52 with 4:28 remaining. It was still a one-point game game with three minutes left, but Virginia went on a 12-3 run to end the game. Chris Williams added 11 points to Hand’s total.
Clemson was led by Andrius Jurkunas with 16 points, including 4-7 three-point shots, the only game all year the junior led Clemson in scoring. Harold Jamison shot a season worst 5-13 from the field, but had 16 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds. Vincent Whitt added 13 points and three assists off the bench. Johnny Miller was 0-7 from the field, and thus Clemson’s starting backcourt was 1-16 from the field, 0-11 on three-point shots in the first game.
Clemson won the rebounding battle 39-25, but lost by seven. The Tigers were just 10-33 from the field in the second half, 30.3 percent, while Virginia shot 46 percent for the game.
Clemson 88, Virginia 65 At Littlejohn Coliseum
Clemson won its second straight ACC game with a balanced attack on Feb. 17, 1999 at Littlejohn Coliseum. Four Tigers scored in double figures, while three more had eight points as the Tigers defeated Virginia by 23 points for the first time since 1965. It had been over 30 years since Clemson defeated the Cavaliers by a 99-72 score at Clemson.
Harold Jamison had his second straight double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Tigers. He was 6-8 from the field. Terrell McIntyre had 13 points and eight assists, while Andrius Jurkunas pitched a perfect game with 5-5 field goal shooting for 13 points. He did not have a turnover in 22 minutes. Tony Christie added 11 points, including three three-point goals to give him 100 for his career.
Clemson held a 42-27 lead at the half thanks to 50 percent three-point shooting and a defense that held Virginia to 29.6 percent. The Tigers clamped down on Donald Hand all night. The sophomore guard had just two points and shot 1-9 from the field. He had scored 41 points against NC State in his most recent game and had 27 in the first meeting against the Tigers.
Clemson was +21 in terms of rebound margin, 47-26. The Tigers hit 8-15 shots from three-point range, 53.3 percent. The Tigers also blocked seven shots on defense, their high mark in an ACC game this year.
Shyatt, Gillen Both Coached at Providence Larry Shyatt and Pete Gillen have a common school in their history. Both coached with the Providence Friars. Shyatt was an assistant under Rick Barnes from 1988-94 and was on the staff that won the only Big East Tournament Championship in the school’s history. Gillen was the head coach at Providence after Barnes left and took the Friars to the Final Eight of the NCAA Tournament two years ago. Gillen ended up coaching many of the players Shyatt had recruited to Providence, including first-round draft choice Austin Croshere.
Clemson Successful in Classroom Clemson had a record setting first semester in the classroom for the period completed this past December. Five of the 13 Clemson players on the roster earned a 3.0 or better, the highest number of academic honor roll selections for a semester in Clemson history. The team had a 2.39 GPA, its best in the fall since 1995 and the fourth best overall.
Starting center Pasha Bains. Larry Shyatt, both made the dean’s list. Walk-on J.D. Powell also made the honor roll. It was an outstanding semester overall for Clemson athletic teams. A record 229 student athletes made the academic honor roll and the overall GPA for all 15 programs was 2.74, highest on record and just .04 from the average for the overall student body.
Florida State 60, Clemson 57 Clemson made just 6-33 shots from the field in the second half, leading to the dissolving of an 11-point halftime lead and a 60-57 loss at Florida State on January 12. It was the third straight ACC loss for the Tigers, who shot 50 percent in the first half and 18 percent in the second half for a 34 percent marksmenship for the game.
Andrius Jurkunas had 12, his first double figure scoring game since the season opener. Adam Allenspach had his fourth double-double of the season with 11 of each, but he made just 1-11 shots from the field in the second half. Nine Tigers played for Clemson and all nine scored at least on field goal, a first this season.
Florida State was led by two seniors, Ron Hale and Damous Anderson, who both scored 18 points. FSU hit just 31.6 percent from the field for the game, including 7-21 on three-point shots. But, the Seminoles were 17-22 from the line. FSU had just eight turnovers to 13 for Clemson, but the Tigers were +10 in rebound margin.
Clemson played its best first half of the year at Florida State. The Tigers made 16-32 shots from the field, had just five turnovers and won the rebound margin in addition to hitting 4-9 on three-point shots. Clemson held a 39-28 lead at intermission and it was achieved with just five points from Walker Holt did an outstanding job holding the fort and the lead. The freshman hit his first three-point goal of the year, pulled in two rebounds and had an assist and no turnovers in eight minutes.
Florida State went on an 18-2 run to open the second half to take an immediate 46-41 lead at the 14 minute mark. But, Clemson’s defense stood up and held Florida State scoreless for eight minutes, and scored 12 points themselves. Clemson led 53-46 with 6:36 left. But, Clemson missed his last 11 shots from the field and scored just four points the rest of the way.
Still, Clemson had Edward Scott on the line with 15 seconds left and a chance to take the lead. But, the freshman missed the front end of a one-and-one. The Tigers had five more shots at the basket, but none would fall. Ron Hale, who had hit a fall-away three-point shot to give FSU the lead, then made a pair of free throws. Will Solomon final three-point shot at a tie was blocked.
Clemson Shooting Must Improve One area Clemson must improve on if it is to gain victory is shooting the basketball. Clemson has shot just 61-185 in the three ACC games so far this year, .330. The Tigers are just 13-63 on three-point shots. Opponents also have a large advantage at the foul line. Opponents have taken 81 shots from the line the three ACC games, while Clemson has taken 29. Opponents have made 20 more free throws than Clemson has attempted, and the Tigers have made 9 percent more of their attempts.
Clemson Assistant AD Played at Virginia Clemson Assistant AD for basketball operations Anthony Solomon is a former Virginia Cavalier player. He was a member of Terry Holland’s Final Four team in 1983-84, Solomon’s freshman year. He played through the 1986-87 season. Virginia won 78 games in the four years he played. He played in three NCAA Tournaments and one NIT. Solomon also served as an assistant coach at Virginia from 1994-95 to 1997-98 under Jeff Jones.
Allenspach vs. Watson Matchup in the Middle Clemson 7-1 center Adam Allenspach has proven to be a large obstacle for opposing centers so far this season. A look to the stats shows us that opposing starting centers have averaged just 4.8 points and 5.5 rebounds a game against the Tigers this year. They are just a combined 20-61 from the field against the Tigers, .328 and have just 26 total offensive rebounds in 15 games.
Allenspach has averaged 11.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game for the first 15 games, all as a starter, so he is obviously winning the war at his position. Allenspach has nine double figure scoring games and four double-doubles. No opposing starting center has a double-double against the Tigers, in fact, only North Carolina’s Brendan Haywood has reached double figures in scoring against the Tigers among opposing starting centers, and that was just a 10-point outing. Rafael Vidaurreta of Wake Forest is the only opponent to have at least 10 rebounds in a game against the Tigers.
He will have his strongest challenge of the season when Virginia comes to Clemson. Freshman Travis Watson averages 11.1 points and 9.5 rebounds a game for the Cavs. That includes 9.7 points and 12.0 rebounds a game in ACC play. Watson is second in the ACC in double-doubles with five, while Allenspach is third with four.
Clemson First in Some Areas, Last in Others It is feast or famine for Clemson when it comes to the ACC stats. The Tigers lead the league in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 37.8 percent. Clemson also leads the conference in rebound margin, collecting +7.5 rebounds per game. Those are two areas that result from the strong effort the team has given so far this season. Only two teams have out-rebounded Clemson all season.
But, the Tigers are last in the ACC in seven different statistical categories. Clemson is last in scoring, scoring margin, field goal percentage, three-point goal percentage and turnover margin. Obviously, Clemson must must improved offensively. The Tigers are just 13 of their last 63 on three-point attempts and are shooting 28 percent from behind the arc for the season. Clemson is shooting just 33 percent over the last three games and has shot over 45 percent fro mthe field just once in the last eight games. Clemson is 41-4 the last five years when shooting over 50 percent from the field.
Clemson has a 6-9 record so far this year, but has 14 more made field goals and has a better shooting percentage from the field than the opposition. Clemson is even when it comes to free throw percentage and is +7.5 in terms of rebound margin. The areas Clemson must improve is made three-point goals, where the opposition has made 30 more than Clemson. Six straight opponents have made more three-point goals than Clemson. That is an 90-point advantage for the opposition. The opposition also has committed 74 less turnovers and has 45 more steals.
Two Top Guards on Display Saturday Two of the top guards i nthe ACC will do battle when Clemson meets Virginia on Saturday at 12:00 Noon. Clemson’s Will Solomon leads the way with a 20.9 average, drastically improved from his 6.3 average of last year. Donald Hand is the top scorer for Virginia with a 15.4 mark, including a 21.3 average in ACC play. Both have similar games in that they get a lot of their points on penetration moves to the hoop.
Hand had 27 points in Virginia’s win over the Tigers in Charlottesville last year. He had just two points in their 23-point loss at Clemson, so he obviously had a big impact on Virginia last year. Both players are good rebounders for guards, as the chart below shows. Both lead their respective teams in assists in addition to scoring, a rarity in this day and age.
Comparison of Leading Scorers
Henderson Has Finest Game One of the bright spots of Clemson’s 20-point loss at North Carolina was the play of freshman forward Ray Henderson. A native of Charlotte, NC, Henderson had a productive 22 minutes of play. Troubled by injury most of this year, Henderson had a season best and team high nine rebounds in those 22 minutes, including four off the offensive boards. He also made 3-5 shots from the field and did not have a turnover in 22 minutes. He also had an effect on the production of Brendan Haywood. The 7-1 North Carolina center had just 10 points and got just four field goal attempts in the game.
For the season, Henderson is 14-15 from the field and that 56 percent shooting is best on the Clemson team. He has 44 rebounds in just 143 minutes of play, a rebound every 3.25 minutes. That is the top rebounds per minute figure on the Clemson team. Over his last 43 minutes, he has 20 rebounds, including 12 offensive.
Conrad Appointed by Reno Bobby Conrad, the starting point guard on Bill Foster’s 1979-80 team that advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, has been appointed Director of the Campaign Finance Task Force by Attorney General Janet Reno. The announcement was made December 27th in Washington DC.
Conrad, now a resident of Charlotte, NC, has been an Assistant United States Attorney for Western North Carolina. He will take an 18-month sabatical from that job to serve his appointment under Reno. His primary activity will be to look into allegations of illegal campaign contributions during the 1996 election cycle.
Conrad graduated from Clemson in 1980. He was a member of the Tiger basketball team for four years, a starter his last two seasons. In 1979-80 he led the Tigers in assists with 157 and averaged 7.8 poins per game. He shot 81 percent from the foul line, including an 8-8 performance in Clemson’s 87-82 overtime victory against #1 ranked Duke.
For his career, Conrad scored 542 points and dealt out 402 assists in 116 games. He also had 172 rebounds and shot 71.6 percent from the foul line. A three-time Academic All-ACC performer, Conrad was the recipient of Clemson’s 1980 Norris Medal, which is given to the top all-around student on the Clemson campus. From Clemson, he went on to earn his law degree at the University of Virginia.
Jurkunas Outstanding vs. Virginia Clemson will need a good game from Andrius Jurkunas if it is to defeat the Virginia Cavaliers. He has played his best basketball against Virginia over his career. In six games, five as a starter, Jurkunas is 20-40 from the field, including 14-29 on three-point shots, 48 percent. He has a 10-point scoring average, six rebounds and has a 12/4 assist to turnover ratio. He had 16 points in Clemson’s loss at Virginia last year and was 5-5 from the field in Clemson’s win at Littlejohn a year ago.
Dustin Braddick and Chucky Gilmore have played sparingly against the Cavs.
Clemson Veterans Career vs. Virginia
Clemson on Record Pace in Rebound Margin If the season ended today, this would be the highest rebound margin by a Clemson team in school history. The Tigers are +7.5 in overall games so far this year. Clemson has been out-rebounded just twice all year, a sign of the hustle and drive of Larry Shyatt team. Wisconsin-GB is the only non-conference team this year to hold a rebounding edge against the Tigers and that was by a 35-31 margin. North Carolina won the rebound battle 43-34 in the ACC opener.
Clemson has won the battle of theboards in 13 of its 15 games this year and has had a double figure advantage in eight of the 15 games. Clemson has a positive rebound margin in its last seven games last year, so the Tigers have outrebounded the opposition in 20 of their last 22 games. Larry Shyatt has been Clemson’s head coach for 50 games and the Tigers have been beaten on the glass just eight times.
The Clemson record for rebound margin in a season is +7.4 rebounds per game set by last year’s team. That team broke the record of +5.8 set by the 1975-76 Clemson team that was led by Tree Rollins. Three other Clemson teams have been at +4.9 rebounds per game for a season. The Clemson team of 1989-90 led by Dale Davis and Elden Campbell had a +4.5 rebound margin per game.
Clemson’s Top Rebound Margin Teams
Solomon Three-point Goal Streak at 19 Clemson guard Will Solomon has made at least one three-point goal in each game this year and has a streak of 19 straight with at least one three-point goal over two years. This is the third longest streak of its kind in Clemson history. His streak started with the last four games of 1998-99, all NIT games, and has continued through the first 15 games this year.
Terrell McIntyre holds the recordwith 26 games in a row set over the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. Chris Whitney, now with the Washington Wizzards, had a 25-game streak, the last 25 games of his career.
In fact, Whitney and McIntyre have the top four streaks in Clemson history. So, Solomon is just the third different Tiger in history to have a streak of at least 19 in a row. Solomon has 70 three-point goals for his career, 26 last year and 44 this season.
Solomon had a career high six three-point goals in a win over Charleston Southern and made five in a win over Winthrop. In fact, he had at least three three-point goals in each of the seven games in the month of December has had multiple three-point goals in 13 of the first 15 games this season.
Clemson Consecutive Game Streak with a Three-Point Goal
Solomon Leads ACC in Scoring, Minutes, 3-Pt Goals Will Solomon leads the ACC in three categories. His 20.9 scoring average is best in the league and 12th in the nation, while his 2.9 three-point goals per game also is first in the league. Solomon also leads the ACC in playing time, averaging 36.4 minutes per game.
Solomon is attempting to become just the fourth Tiger in history to lead the ACC in scoring. Butch Zatezalo paced the league twice, with a 23.0 average in 1967-68 and with a 25.8 average in 1968-69. He did not lead the league as a senior. Horace Grant led the league as a senior in 1986-87 with a 21.0 scoring mark, while Terrell McIntyre led the conference last year with a 17.9 figure.
Solomon’s 20.9 scoring average is the highest by a Clemson player since Grant averaged 21.0 in 1986-87. The Clemson record for a season is a 28.3 figure by Bill Yarborough in 1954-55. Yarborough did not lead the league that year because of Virginia’s Buzz Willinson’s 32.1 average, a figure that is still the ACC record.
Allenspach Second in Scoring and Rebounding Adam Allenspach leads the Tigers in rebounding , double-doubles and free throw shooting so far this year. The 7-1 junior has averaged 11.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. His rebound figure is sixth best in the league. He has shot 49 percent from the field, but does not average the needed 5 made field goals per game.
Allenspach has four double-doubles this year, with the most recent coming against Florida State when he had 11 of each. His 11 rebounds were a career high. He had 14 points and 10 rebounds in the Clemson victory over Winthrop. He had a 19-point, seven rebound performance in a win over Furman. That id a career high in scoring for Allenspach.
Allenspach has scored in double figures in six of his last eight games and has averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds per game during this time. He has made over 50 percent of his field goals in six of the last eight games games and in 10 of the 15 games this year.
Nagys Getting to the Foul Line One of the freshmen who has made an impact this year is Tomas Nagys. The native of Lithuania had six points in 10 minutes against Furman, including 4-6 from the foul line and three rebounds. He also had an assist and drew a charge. He leads the Tigers in charges taken this year with eight. He has a knack for getting to the foul line, as his six free throws in 10 minutes against Furman will show.
Nagys has attempted at least one free throw in 11 of his 14 games this year, including a high of 7-8 shooting in just 10 minutes in the season opener. For the season, Nagys has attempted 40 free throws in just 130 minutes, or one every 3.5 minutes of play. That is by far the best on the team.
Jurkunas Veteran of 100 Games A 30 percent field goal percentage, including 26 percent from three-point land is not exactly what Andrius Jurkunas had in mind for his final season at Clemson. But, Larry Shyatt would be the first to tell you he is more than pleased with his leadership and all-around play.
Jurkunas suffered a broken thumb on his shooting (right) hand while attempting to draw a charge against Central Florida in the season’s third game. He missed the rest of that game and the next four games. Clemson was 1-3 in those games.
Since returning to the lineup, a period of eight games, he has played with a soft cast over the thumb. The cast obviously affects his shooting and he is 16 for 56 during this time. It has forced Jurkunas to contribute on other ways…and he has. In the win over South Carolina he had played almost the entire second half and scored just two points, but had seven rebounds and four assists. He contributed six assists and eight points in the win over Winthrop, then had a career high seven assists and a career high 11 rebounds in a loss to George Washington. In the win over Furman he had four points, five rebounds and a blocked shot in 19 minutes.
Jurkunas had his best game against an ACC team when he had 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists against just two turnovers at Florida State. It was his first double figure scoring game since the season opener. He also hit a pair of three-point goals in that game.
Jurkunas is Clemson’s most experienced player. He has played in 100 games, 63 as a starter and has played 2180 career minutes, nearly 1000 more than any other Tiger. He has 118 career three-point goals, more than any other forward in Clemson history, and has 645 points, also high among active Tigers. His 374 rebounds are also best among active Tigers.
Tigers Taking Charge One area Clemson has shown improvement in this year from a defensive standpoint is taking charges. The Tigers have already drawn 29 charges in 15 games, after taking 46 charges in 35 contests last year. Clemson has taken a charge in all but one game (Central Florida) this year, with a high of four against East Tennessee State in the opener. Clemson has taken three in five other games.
Leading the way is freshman Tomas Nagys, who has taken eight charges in just 127 minutes. Edward Scott has six charges and Adam Allenspach has taken three. Eight different Tigers have taken a charge this year.
12 of 15 Clemson Games Up For Grabs While Clemson has a 6-9 record so far this year, Clemson has been in all but three contests with five minutes left. Clemson has been out of just threegames with five minutes left, a 53-35 loss to Oregon State in the SoCon Holiday Hoops on November 28, the George Washington game on December 22 and the ACC opener at North Carolina. George Washington hit 15 three-point goals in defeating Clemson 90-71 in Littlejohn Coliseum.
In Clemson’s 17-point loss to Wisconsin-GB, the Tigers were tied with the Phenix at 40-40 with 5:42 left. In a 10-point loss to Penn State, Clemson trailed by just four with two minutes left. Clemson lost by 14 to Wake Forest, but it was a six-point game with 2:30 left.
Clemson has shown an ability to win close games this year, something that was not the case last season. The Tigers have won four games by six points or less, including each of the last three Clemson victories (over a four-game period). Clemson defeated South Carolina 61-58, then defeated Winthrop 64-59. In Clemson’s most recent game, the Tigers held off Furman 74-70. Clemson is 4-3 in games decided by six points or less this year.
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