#19 Clemson Men’s Basketball Team to Play Host to #12 North Carolina Wednesday Night

Jan. 12, 2010

GAME SETUP Site: Littlejohn Coliseum (10,000) Tickets: Sold Out Date: Saturday, January 13, 2010 City: Clemson, SC Time/TV: 9:05 PM (ESPN) (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas, Andy Katz) Radio: Clemson Tiger Radio Network (Pete Yanity, Tim Bourret) Rankings: Clemson 19th in USA Today, 24th in AP; UNC 12th in AP, 13th in USA Today Officials: TBA

SERIES HISTORY Overall: North Carolina leads 122-19 at Clemson: North Carolina leads 35-15 at Littlejohn: North Carolina leads 26-12 at UNC: North Carolina leads 54-0 at Neutral: North Carolina leads 33-4 First Meeting: UNC 48-24 in 1925-26 Last Year: N North Carolina, 94-70 at UNC Last Meeting at Clemson: UNC, 90-88 (OT) in 2007-08 Streak: UNC won 10 in a row Next Meeting: Only meeting this year

QUICK FACTS Clemson has lost 10 consecutive games to North Carolina dating to a 81-72 win over the Tar Heels in Oliver Purnell’s first year. That victory came over a North Carolina team that was ranked 12th in the nation entering the game. North Carolina is ranked 12th by AP entering this game.

Trevor Booker moved ahead of former Clemson stars Tree Rollins and Cliff Hammonds on the all-time Clemson scoring list when he had 19 points in the win over Boston College. He now has 1475 and needs 25 against North Carolina to become the 10th Tiger player to reach 1500 points.

Booker is one of just two players ranked in the top 10 in the ACC in both blocked shots and steals.

Demontez Stitt has made 7 of his last 12 three-point shots and is now shooting .395 for this year. He shot just .274 from 3- point range for his first two years at Clemson. Stitt has scored in double figures in five straight games and 10 of the last 12. He is scoring a career high 10.9 points per game.

Clemson is coming off a 72-56 win over Boston College. It was Clemson’s fourth straight win by double digits over the Eagles. That ties a Clemson record for consecutive wins over an ACC team by double digits.

Wednesday night’s game will be a battle of top 25 teams. Clemson is 19th in USA Today and 24th in AP and North Carolina is 12th in AP and 13th by USA Today. Clemson has beaten a top 25 North Carolina team 12 times in history, but just once when Clemson was also ranked in the top 25. North Carolina has a 14-1 lead in the series when both teams enter the game in the top 25 of either poll.

This is the 25th straight poll Clemson has been ranked in the top 25 by at least one of the major polls. This is the second longest streak of top 25 rankings in Clemson history.

Booker has 927 career rebounds, more than any other active ACC player. He needs 11 to move into fourth place ahead of Harold Jamison on the all-time Clemson list. He has 28 double-doubles more than any other active ACC player.

Jerai Grant has made 17 of his last 22 field goal attempts. He scored 11 points at Duke, his high game in an ACC road game, then added nine in the win over Boston College.

Clemson leads the ACC in steals and ranks in the top 10 in the nation with 11.0 per game. North Carolina is tied for the ACC in lead in blocked shots per game with 7.0. The Tigers are third in the ACC in turnover margin.

Trevor Booker has just 24 fouls in 16 games, just 1.5 per game. He has more steals than fouls (25-24) and almost more blocks than fouls (22-24).