10th-Ranked Tigers to Play Host to #3 Duke Wednesday Night at Littlejohn Coliseum

Feb. 3, 2009

Game Setup Site: Littlejohn Coliseum (10,000) Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009 City: Clemson, SC Time: 9:00 PM Television: ESPN (Mike Patrick, Jay Bilas, Heather Cox) Radio: Clemson Tiger Radio Network (Pete Yanity, Tim Bourret) Rankings: Clemson – 10, AP, USA Today; Duke – 3 USA Today, 4 AP

Series History Overall: Duke leads 100-28 at Clemson: Duke leads 36-20 at Littlejohn: Duke leads 22-16 at Duke: Duke leads 56-4 at Neutral: Duke leads 8-4 First Meeting: Duke, 46-12 in 1925-26 Last Year: Duke won at Duke, 93-80; Clemson won at ACC Trn, 78-74 Streak: Clemson won 1 in row, Duke won 22 of last 23; Duke won 9 in row at Clemson Next Meeting: Only meeting this year

Quick Facts Duke has won 22 of the last 23 games in the series with Clemson, but the Tigers won the last meeting, at the ACC Tournament in Charlotte last year. Clemson won 78-74 to move on to the championship game against North Carolina. It was Clemson’s first win in the ACC Tournament semifinals since 1962.

Clemson has not beaten Duke at Clemson since the 1996-97 season, an 86-82 win in overtime. That was the same score Clemson beat Virginia Tech.

K.C. Rivers went over the 1500 point mark in the win over Virginia Tech. He now has 1523 for his career and is the ninth player in Clemson history to go over 1500 points. He needs just five three-point goals to become Clemson’s all-time leader. Terrell McIntyre had 259 and Rivers has 255.

Rivers has made 17-31 three-point shots in ACC play and the .548 percentage is best in the ACC. He is 10-20 in his career against Duke.

Clemson made 14 of 25 three-point shots in the win at Virginia Tech, tied for the seventh most three-point goals in a game in Clemson history. Seven different Tigers made a three-point goal in that game, just the fourth time in history Clemson has had seven different players make a three.

Clemson and Duke are both in the top 10 of the AP poll. This is the second time this year, but just the sixth time in school history two top 10 teams have met at Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson and Wake Forest were both ranked in the top 10 entering the Jan. 17 game at Clemson.

Oliver Purnell is now the winningest coach in Clemson history in terms of winning percentage. He has a 112-70 record for a .615 winning percentage, ahead of the .607 recorded by Rick Barnes from 1994-98. Purnell has led the Tigers to a 67-23 record over the last three years, a .744 winning percentage. Duke is 69-19 over the same period of time for a .782 percentage.

Clemson is ranked in the top 10 in the nation in both polls this week, the fifth straight week Clemson has been ranked in the top 12 in the nation. This is the first time Clemson has been in the top 12 in both polls for at least 5 straight weeks since the 1996-97 season when it had a 14-week streak.

Clemson is the only school in the nation ranked in the top 10 in both steals and blocked shots.

Duke is ranked 10th in the nation in field goal percentage defense and Clemson leads the ACC in three-point goals made per game.

Clemson and Duke are both ranked in the top 25 in turnover margin. Clemson is 13th and Duke is 22nd. Both are also in the top 25 in scoring, Duke is 21st and Clemson is 24th.