Clemson Faces North Carolina In ACC Tourney

March 8, 2001

Clemson vs. North Carolina Friday, March 9, 2001 12:00 Noon (EST) ACC Tournament Georgia Dome * Atlanta, GA

TV: ESPN/Jefferson Pilot Radio: Clemson Tiger Network Play By Play: Jim Phillips * Color: Tim Bourret

* When Clemson defeated Florida State on Thursday night it marked just the the fifth time in history that Clemson had won an ACC Tournament game against a team that had defeated the Tigers twice in the regular season. Clemson is now 5-29 in that situation in history. Two of the five wins have now come against Florida State. Clemson broke an 18-game losing streak in that situation with an 87-75 win over the Seminoles at the 1993 at Charlotte. Clemson also accomplished that feat against North Carolina in 1996.

* Clemson’s 66-64 win over Florida State in the first round was just Clemson’s 13th win in the 48-year history of the ACC Tournament. It was was registered on March 8, 2001, the exact five-year anniversary of Clemson’s 75-73 win over North Carolina. Greg Buckner’s dunk with 0.6 seconds left gave the Tigers the win.

* That 75-73 win in Greensboro in 1996 is Clemson’s only ACC Tournament win over North Carolina. The Tar Heels are 11-1 against the Tigers in the ACC Tournament.

* The last time Clemson and North Carolina met, the Tigers gained a 75-65 win over the #1 ranked Tar Heels. Clemson had lost eight games in a row and North Carolina had won 18 in a row heading into that game. It marked just the second time in Clemson history that the Tigers had defeated the #1 team in the nation, the first time since a win over #1 Duke, 87-82 in overtime on January 9, 1980.

* Clemson had a 10-14 record heading into that game. The 14 losses stand as the most losses ever for a team (at the time of the game) that upset the nation’s top ranked team. It was the first time in 23 years that a team with a losing record defeated the number-one team in a game played after January 10th.

* Clemson has not beaten North Carolina twice in the same season since 1963-64. The Tigers won at Clemson 66-64 in double overtime, then won in Charlotte in double overtime by a 97-90 score.

Player Notes

• Clemson center Ray Henderson scored a career-high 15 points in the victory over Florida State. It was just his fourth double figure scoring game this season. He now has six career double figure scoring games and two have come in the ACC Tournament. He had 10 in the first-round loss to Duke last year. He is now 15 for his last 23 from the field and has improved his field goal percentage to 54 percent from the field for the season, second best on the team.
• Dustin Braddick came off the bench to hit 4-4 field goal attempts in the win over Florida State. Braddick, a 45 percent shooter for his career, is now 11-16 from the field in ACC Tournament play, .688.
• Edward Scott made 2-2 free throws with 10 seconds left to ice the Florida State game for Clemson. Scott has now made 25 of 28 free throws against ACC competition this year, .892. Earlier this year he had a streak of 23 consecutive made free throws, longest by a Tiger since 1984. Scott made 5-6 shots from the field and scored 12 points in the second half of the win over Florida State.
• Will Solomon scored 13 points in the win over Florida State. His three-point goal with 1:45 left put the Tigers up for good, 64-62. He has now scored in double figures all but three games this year and in 56 of his last 59 over two years. Solomon scored 26 points in Clemson’s win over North Carolina the last time the two teams met.
• Solomon went over 1400 career points in the win over Florida State. He now has 1408, the 10th highest figure in Clemson history. His scoring average of 15.1 per game is 8th best in school history.
• In two games against North Carolina this year, Solomon has scored 43 points on 16-38 field goal shooting. He has made 8-22 three-point shots. He has scored exactly 26 points two of the last three games he has faced the Tar Heels.
• Chris Hobbs, Clemson starting forward, is a native of Chapel Hill, NC. He had six points and eight rebounds in the win over North Carolina at Littlejohn Coliseum. Hobbs is now shooting 55.6 percent from the field and .699 from the line for the year. He is trying to become the first Clemson freshman since 1986-87 to shoot at least 50 percent from the field and 70 percent from the foul line in the same year. In fact, no Clemson player has done that shooting double since 1991-92 (Corey Wallace).

Team Notes

• Clemson is now 1-0 in the Georgia Dome in basketball, 1-3 in football. Clemson has now won its first appearance in each sport in this facility. Clemson defeated Kentucky in the 1993 Peach Bowl. This is the only facility that has seen Clemson play a football game and a basketball game.
• Clemson out-rebounded Florida State 41-30 in its first-round win. The Tigers had a +11 margin in the second half. That was Clemson’s largest rebound margin in any game since Clemson had a +15 margin against Northwestern back on November 28th.
• Clemson shot 54.8 percent from the field in the second half against Florida State after a 9-30 first half. It was the first time Clemson has shot over 50 percent in any half since the Tigers hit .571 in the second half at Florida State. It was just the fourth half in ACC play that Clemson has exceeded 50 percent shooting in a half this year.
• Clemson shot 9-12 from the foul line against Florida State, 75 percent. Clemson is at .702 for the season. The Tigers have not shot 70 percent or better from the line since the 1986-87 season.
• Clemson now has 236 three-point goals for the year. The school team record is 240 set during the 1993-94 season.
• Clemson’s quarterfinal game against North Carolina will be its 13th game against a top 25 team this year. That will tie the school record for most games against ranked opponents in one season. Clemson’s 1996-97 team that advanced to the Sweet 16 played 13 games against ranked opponents. This Clemson team had 12 games against top 25 teams in the regular season. That was a record for a regular season.
• Clemson came back from a 30-27 deficit to defeat Florida State in the first round. Clemson was 2-17 this year when trailing at halftime heading into that game. One of the now three total comeback wins came in the 75-65 win over North Carolina on Feb. 18 at Clemson.
• Clemson plays a much smaller lineup than North Carolina. Yet, the Tigers out-rebounded the Tar Heels, 85-82 in the two games combined.
• Friday’s game against North Carolina will attract over 40,000 fans to the Georgia Dome. That will be the largest crowd ever to see the Tigers play. The record is 32,000 for Clemson’s win over #3 Kentucky in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis in the season opener for 1996-97.
• Clemson had zero fast-break points in the first half and 19 in the second half of its win over Florida State. Florida State had just four fast-break points the entire game.