Thursday 02/10/2000
Feb. 10, 2000
CLEMSON, S.C. – This is the 31st meeting between Clemson and Florida State in men’s basketball. The Seminoles hold a 17-13 lead. Florida State won the first meeting between the two teams this year by three points. Clemson won last year’s meeting at Clemson.
Florida State defeated Clemson two out of three last year. However, Clemson did have one of its most impressive performances of the 1998-99 season in a 78-45 win at Littlejohn Coliseum. That was Clemson’s second largest margin of victory ever in an ACC game. Clemson led 39-17 at the half. Terrell McIntyre scored 29 points to lead the way and the Tiger defense held FSU to 30.4 percent shooting. Clemson won the rebound battle by 20 and held Hale to just 11 points. Harold Jamison and Tom Wideman both had double-doubles.
Clemson has won each of the last two and three of the last four meetings with Florida State in Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson has won each of the last two games at Littlejohn by at least 20 points, an 86-65 victory in 1997-98 and the 33-point win last year.
Over the last seven meegings, Florida State has won four games and Clemson has won three. Clemson’s average margin of victory in those three wins is 27.7 points a game. Florida State’s average margin in its four victories in that time is 3.25 points.
Clemson swept Florida State with two of its most impressive games of the 1997-98 season. Clemson won the game at Clemson, 86-65, its highest scoring ACC game of the season. Florida State was ranked 17th in the nation entering the contest. Clemson won at Tallahassee 78-49, the largest margin of victory in an ACC road game in school history.
Clemson and FSU first met in the 1952 Gator Bowl Tournament in Jacksonville, FL. The Tigers won 62-56 and in fact won the first three games of the series, one in Jacksonville, one in Charlotte and one in Clemson.
Since Florida State joined the ACC in 1991-92, the Seminoles have won 13 of the 19 meetings. Clemson’s top victory in that time came in the 1993 ACC Tournament in Charlotte. Clemson defeated a 10th ranked Florida State team, 87-75. That victory, led by Clemson future NBA players Sharone Wright, Chris Whitney and Devin Gray, broke a 27-game Clemson losing streak in the Tournament as a lower seeded team.
Clemson vs. Florida State Littlejohn Coliseum Saturday, February 12, 2000 (12:06 PM)
Series Record: Florida State Leads, 17-13at Clemson: Clemson leads 7-6at Littlejohn: tied at 5-5at FSU: Florida State leads 9-3Last Meeting: FSU 60-57 at FSU, 1-12-00Television: Fox Sports Net (Mike Goldberg, Mike Gminski)
Upcoming Clemson Schedule:
Quick Facts Clemson guard Will Solomon has scored 33.56 percent of Clemson’s points this year. He is trying to become the first ACC player to score at least a third of his team’s points since 1970-71 when Charlie Davis scored 33.4 percent of Wake Forest’s total for the season.
Solomon is also on pace to become just the second player in league history to win the scoring title for a team that ranks last in the league in scoring office. Mark Price did that for Georgia Tech in 1982-83.
Over his last two games, Solomon has scored 55 points, is 19-34 from the field, 10-15 from three-point land and has 11 rebounds. He is the only player in the ACC who has scored in double figures in every game this year.
Ray Henderson has been Clemson’s leading rebounder in each of the last two games even though he has not played more than 15 minutes in either game. Henderson has 57 rebounds in 190 minutes, one ever 3.33 minutes, the best figure on the team.
Andrius Jurkunas needs just one three-point goal against Florida State to move ahead of Bruce Martin into fourth place on Clemson’s career list. He and Martin, now Clemson’s graduate manager, have 129.
Clemson is shooting 67.3 percent from the line this year, up from 62 percent last year. Clemson is shooting 70 percent from the line in league play and has made at least 70 percent in eight of the last 10 games.
Point guard Edward Scott has just three turnovers in his last three games covering 105 minutes.
Florida State 60, Clemson 57 Jan. 12, 2000 at Tallahassee, FL
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.
Will Solomon led the Tigers with 13 points, while 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 Will Solomon. The ACC’s leading scorer had two fouls early and played just seven minutes in the first half. 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 Will Solomon final three-point shot at a tie was blocked.
Clemson has not had a game decided by five points or less since.
Kennedy and Maravich Coached at Midcourt One of the more unique games of the series took place before Florida State was in the ACC. On January 8, 1962, Clemson defeated FSU 75-69. In that game, both coaches, Bud Kennedy of Florida State, and Press Maravich of Clemson, sat side-by-side at midcourt while the game was in progress.
Both coaches, who were good friends, had dinner together the night before the game in Clemson and decided to watch the game together. During timeouts they huddled with their team, then returned to their chairs at midcourt. Clemson defeated a 15-8 Florida State team twice that season.
Solomon Scoring Over third of Tiger Points Will Solomon has scored 33.56 percent of Clemson’s points this season and is attempting to be the first ACC player in 30 years to score at least a third of his team’s points over the course of the season. The last ACC player to score at least a third of his team’s points was Charlie Davis of Wake Forest in 1970-71. Davis scored 690 of Wake Forest’s 2065 points that year, 33.41 percent.
What is especially amazing is that Solomon leads the ACC in scoring on a team that is last in the conference in scoring as a team. Clemson has averaged 63 points a game and Solomon has a 21.1 average. The last and only player in ACC history to lead the league in scoring on the lowest scoring team was Mark Price. He led the ACC in scoring in 1982-83, but the Yellow Jackets were last in team scoring average.
The ACC record for percentage of a team’s points in a season is held by a Clemson player. The late Bill Yarborough scored 39.6 percent of Clemson’s points in 1954-55. He tallied 651 of Clemson’s 1644 points that year and averaged a Clemson record 28.3 points a game that year and ranked fourth in the nation, the highest ranking ever for a Clemson player in scoring. Solomon is currently 15th in the nation.
Solomon’s 33.56 percent of points scored for his team would rank ninth best in ACC history if the season ended today. All eight of the figures above him took place between 1953-54 and 1965-66, so his figures are certainly remarkable by contemporary standards.
Solomon has made a run from a percentage standpoint in the last two games. In the losses to North Carolina and Wake Forest, he scored 55 of Clemson’s 123 points , 44.7 percent.
ACC Players Highest % of Team’s Points
Henderson Has 11 Rebounds Last 20 Minutes On a per minute basis, Ray Henderson has been Clemson’s most productive rebounder this year. That has especially been the case of late. In the last two games he has been Clemson’s top rebounder, even though he has not played more than 15 minutes. He had five rebounds in just six minutes against North Carolina on Feb. 6, then had six rebounds in 15 minutes at Wake Forest. The burly freshman has been hampered by injury all year and thus his stamina is not at a high rate.
The native of Charlotte, NC, had a productive 22 minutes of play at North Carolina in January and it was the first game in which he opened the eyes of the ACC media. 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.
He did play 16 minutes in the win over Georgia Tech and scored six points in 3-4 shooting. He also played strong defense against Alvin Jones of Georgia Tech. For the year, Henderson is 19-33 from the field, a team best .576 shooting percentage.
Free Throw Shooting Improved Clemson has shot at least 70 percent from the foul line in eight of its last 10 games. That includes consecutive games of 80 percent or better. Unfortunately, the fine free throw shooting has not led to victories. In the 10-game stretch in which Clemson has shot at least 70 percent from the line eight times, the only two times Clemson failed to reach 70 percent was the two Clemson victories during the 10-game period, triumphs over NC State and Georgia Tech.
Clemson has made 134 of 185 free throws in the last 10 games, a .724 mark. Larry Shyatt Tigers are now shooting 67.3 percent from the line for the year, 69.9 percent in conference play. Clemson has not shot over 70 percent for the course of a season since 1986-87 when Clemson’s winningest team in history (25-6 with ACC Player of the Year Horace Grant) shot 71.6 percent. The all-time best is 73.4 by the 1981-82 team. Clemson has never led the ACC in free throw shooting.
Clemson’s current free throw percentage of .673 would be the third best by a Tiger squad in the last 13 years, or the length of time since Clemson had a 70 percent season. Clemson made 68 percent fro mthe line in 1996-97 and 69.6 in 1994-95.
Wake Forest Downs Tigers 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. 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 with a pair of double-digit victories.
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 have been 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. 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.
Two of Top 4 ACC Scorers on Display Saturday Two of the top four scorers in the ACC will do battle when Clemson meets Florida State on Wednesday in Tallahassee. Clemson’s Will Solomon leads the league with a 21.1 scoring average, while Florida State’s Ron Hale has an 17.2 average. Each has had a 37-point scoring game, and Solomon has had a 43-point contest, the top game in the ACC this year. Both players rank in the top four on the ACC in three-point percentage. Hale is third, while Solomon is fourth.
The similarities in their game end their. Solomon is a guard who gets many of his 486 points on three-point shots. In fact, he has scored 43 percent of his points on 70 made three-point goals so far this year. Hale is a forward who can score from all over the court. He has 31 three-point goals, but also scores many points on the inside. “Ron Hale is a guy who can score inside and out, perhaps as well as any player in the ACC,” said Clemson Head Coach Larry Shyatt. “That is why he is so tough to defend. It really has to be a team effort to stop him.” Hale has 326 points so far this year, 89 on foul shots, 93 on three-point goals and 144 on 72 two-point field goals.
Comparison of Leading Scorers
Clemson veterans vs. Florida State Clemson does not have many players with experience against Florida State. Of course, with only five returning players from last year, Clemson doesn’t have many players with experience against any ACC team. Adam Allenspach had one of his best games of the 1998-99 season in a game versus Florida State. As a sophomore, Allenspach scored 12 points and had six rebounds in 31 minutes in the ACC Tournament. He had a double-double in the first meeting this year, 11 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Andrius Jurkunas has struggled against FSU in his career, making just 11-37 shots from the field, including just 5-24 three-point shots.
Clemson Veterans Career vs. Florida State
Tigers Have 10 Healthy Scholarship Players for First Time College basketball teams begin practice on October 15, but it took until February 4 for Clemson to have its full roster of scholarship players available for a practice. On that Friday, Adam Allenspach returned to practice after missing the Georgia Tech game with a bulging disk.
Clemson had played 21 games with at least one scholarship player injured and unable to play. The North Carolina game on Feb. 6 was the first time Clemson had all 10 scholarship players healthy. The Tigers looked like it also, taking the Tar Heels to the wire before losing. Clemson had everyone healthy for the Wake Forest game also.
The absence of healthy scholarship players has hurt Clemson’s preparation in games this year. Many practices prior to games Clemson has had just six healthy scholarship players. Clemson played at Maryland with just six scholarship players.
Jurkunas Needs One Three for 4th Place Clemson senior Andrius Jurkunas needs just one three-point goal to move past Bruce Martin into fourth place on Clemson’s all-time three-point goal list. He and Martin both have 129 to their credit.
Jurkunas had been playing his best basketball of the year prior to the North Carolina game, a contest in which he made just 2-10 from the field. In the four games previous to the UNC contest, Jurkunas made 19 of 34 shots from the field, including 9-17 three-point shots. He scored 55 points in those four games. He had a career high 21 points in the win over Georgia Tech. He also led the team in rebounds with seven. That is the second time in the last four games that he has led Clemson in both categories.
Jurkunas had one of his most productive games as a Clemson Tiger in the 74-62 loss to Maryland on January 22. The native of Lithuania whose Clemson career dates to November 26, 1995, scored 16 points on 4-6 shooting. He also had 3-4 three-point goal successes and pulled in seven rebounds. he led the Tigers in scoring and rebounding, the first time he has done that in the same game.
Jurkunas continued his fine play against NC State with 10 points on 4-8 shooting. He had three assists and just one turnover in his 38 minutes and also had a pair of steals. He is among the top 10 assist leaders in the ACC and leads the Clemson team on a per game basis.
Solomon Chasing 3Pt Goal Record Clemson guard Will Solomon, the ACC’s top scorer with a 21.1 average, had his finest game in two weeks when he had 26 points against North Carolina on February 6. He made 6-7 three-point shots, his best accuracy game as a Tiger from long distance. He made 4-8 three-point goals against Wake Forest and is now 10-15 over the last two games.
Solomon ranks 23rd in the nation and first in the ACC in three-point goals per game. He is averaging 3.0 per game, ahead of the Clemson record pace for a season. The record on a per game basis over a season is 2.9 by Chris Whitney (now with the Washington Wizards of the NBA). Whitney did that in 1992-93, his senior year.
Solomon has 70 of Clemson’s 135 three-point goals this yesar,over 50 percent of Clemson’s three-point goals. The 70 three-point goals made already rank tied for fourth (with Michael Tailt, 1986-87) best in a season. And, Solomon still has at least seven games left. The single season record is 99 by Terrell McIntyre set last year when Clemson played 35 games.
Three Tigers Reach Career Highs in One Week Last week was a record setting week personally for three Clemson Tigers. Andrius Jurkunas, Chucky Gilmore, all players in at least their second season, all had career scoring highs. Jurkunas scored 21 in Clemson’s win over Georgia Tech, his high scoring total and only 20-point game of his 107-game Clemson career. Braddick scored 14 in that game for his career high, while Gilmore had 10 points against North Carolina, his first career double digit scoring game.
Only 6 Turnovers vs. UNC/But 20 vs. Wake Clemson committed just six turnovers against North Carolina on February 6. It was not only the low total for the year, but the low figure by Clemson since Larry Shyatt became Clemson head coach. He has been Clemson’s coach for 58 games. It was the fewest turnovers by any Clemson team since March 6, 1998 when Clemson had just six in an ACC Tournament win over Wake Forest.
What was very impressive was the fact that no Clemson guard had a turnover in the game. All six turnovers were by frontcourt players. Will Solomon each played 36 minutes without a turnover and reserve guards Dustin Braddick and Pasha Bains were also flawless. In two games last week, Scott played 70 minutes at the starting point guard without a turnover.
However, Clemson came back with 20 turnovers at Wake Forest and the -8 turnover margin was the key to victory for the Demon Deacons.
Allenspach Second Leading Scorer Clemson center Adam Allenspach scored 24 points in Clemson’s loss to Appalachian State on January 19. That was his career high scoring effort and it was in fact the highest scoring game for a Clemson center since Sharone Wright scored 25 points at Wake Forest on Feb. 22, 1994. Allenspach connected on 7-11 field goals and 10-12 free throws.
His free throw shooting stats were also a career high. He made his last nine free throws of the game and is now shooting 71.6 percent from the line for the year. The native of Parkland, FL is trying to become the first Clemson center to lead the Tigers in free throw shooting since Ed Brinkley shot 77.8 percent in 1956-57. That is the only free throw shooting percentage over 75 percent for a season by a Clemson center in history.
Allenspach had five straight double figure scoring games and was averaging 16 points a contest prior to the Duke game in Durham when he went down with a bulging disk in his back. He had 12 points and seven rebounds in the win over NC State. He did not play against Georgia Tech due to a bulging disk in his back, then started against North Carolina and had four points and four rebounds. He had eight points at Wake Forest.
Walkon Holt Makes Contribution Walker Holt made his first career start at Maryland. The original walk-on who is now on scholarship for this season was the first original walk-on to start a game for the Tigers since the 1985-86 season when Jeff Holstein started at Georgia Tech.
Holt, a freshman from Greensboro, NC did not score in the game in 25 minutes (he took just two shots), but did have a season high five rebounds and three assists with just one turnover. He had a career high 12 points on 5-7 shooting against Appalachian State on January 19. He had those 12 points in 20 minutes. He had not scored over three points in a game all year prior to that contest.
Holt’s performance against Appalachian State included a midcourt shot at the end of the half that swished through the nets, the longest shot made by a Clemson player in the history of Littlejohn Coliseum. That fact is according to longtime Clemson SID Bob Bradley and 32-year play-play man Jim Phillips, who have seen almost every game in the history of the Coliseum. Wake Forest’s Rod Griffin made a shot just inside midcourt against the Tigers in 1978, but that is the closest long bomb anyone can remember.
Holt’s improvement could be traced to the “buzz cut” his teammates gave him on the road trip to North Carolina on January 5. Holt had long curly locks prior to that and the trim has had the opposite affect it had on Sampson (not Ralph, but mythology).
Since he had the locks cut, Holt has played 99 minutes, has shot 9 of 18 from the field, including 5-8 on three-point shots. He is 5-6 from the line, has 13 rebounds and nine assists to go with 28 points. Prior to the haircut, Holt had played 88 minutes in 10 games, scored just four points, had eight assists and nine rebounds. He was 2-9 from the field.
What Clemson has Done Well Rebounding–Tigers are +6.1 for the season, first in the ACC and second best in Clemson history. Tigers have been out-rebounded in just four games all year and have had a double digit rebound margin against 10 opponents.
Defense–Clemson has allowed opponents to make just 39.5 percent of their shots. Only two teams, Duke and North Carolina, have shot over 48 percent against Clemson this year.
Free Throw Shooting–Clemson has made 67 percent of its free throws this year, up from 62.5 last year. Clemson has made 69 percent in ACC games. Clemson has made at least 70 percent of its free throws in eight of the last 10 games.
Where Clemson has Struggled Three-Point Shooting–Clemson has made just 30.9 percent from beyond the arc. Opponents have made more three-point goals than Clemson in 12 of the last 14 games and 18 of 23 games this year.
Assist/turnover ratio–Clemson has had more turnovers than assists in 16 of 223games. Clemson has committed 122 more turnovers than the opposition and has 47 more turnovers than assists.
Forcing Turnovers–Opponents have had more assists than turnovers in 12 of the last 13 games. A nine game streak was snapped in the win over NC State. Clemson has just 105 steals compared to 181 by the opposition.
Free Throw Attempts–In ACC play the opposition has attempted 90 more free throws than Clemson in the 10 games.
Solomon Leads Clemson in Scoring and Assists Will Solomon leads the Tigers in scoring and assists per game, a rarity in college basketball. In fact, only two players in the last 30 years have done that over the course of a season for Clemson. Chris Whitney led the Tigers in both areas in 1992-93 and Terrell McIntyre did it last year. Prior to that you have to go back to Butch Zatezalo in 1968-69 to find the last time a Tiger led the Team in scoring and assists in the same season.
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