Clemson 2005-06 Men’s Basketball Schedule Released

Aug. 23, 2005

Clemson’s 2005-06 men’s basketball schedule was announced Tuesday by the Atlantic Coast Conference. The 29-game slate is highlighted by a trip to Puerto Rico on December 19-21 for the San Juan Shootout and non-conference games with SEC rivals South Carolina and Georgia. In total, the schedule features eight games versus NCAA Tournament opponents and five against NIT opponents from a year ago.

“Once again we will have one of the toughest schedules in the nation,” said Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell. “With the addition of Boston College, who we play on the road, our ACC schedule is even tougher. Yet, we look forward to the challenge, that is what we signed up for when we came to Clemson.”

Clemson will open the season November 18 against Bethune-Cookman at Littlejohn Coliseum, the first of 15 home games this season.

For the first time since the 1993-94 season, Clemson will play at Charleston Southern. The game will be played at the North Charleston Coliseum on November 26. The last meeting in Charleston saw the Tigers victorious by a score of 120-103. Clemson’s Devin Gray and Rayfield Ragland both scored 30 points or better that night.

Clemson will compete in the seventh annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge on November 29 by heading to State College, PA for the fourth meeting with Penn State in the event. The Tigers are 2-1 versus the Nittany Lions and 4-2 overall in the event. Clemson won the last meeting between the two teams 79-70 at the Anderson Civic Center in 2002.

South Carolina will play at Clemson on December 3, making it the earliest the rivalry game has been played since the 1988-89 season. Last year, the Tigers won an overtime thriller, 63-62, in Columbia to give Purnell his first road win as the Tigers’ head coach.

The Tigers will compete in the eight-team San Juan Shootout for the first time since the 2000-01 season. Clemson reached the finals of the event in 1996-97. This year’s field includes 2005 NCAA Tournament participants Mississippi State and UT-Chattanooga, and NIT participant Holy Cross. The Tigers will face local Division II team Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in the first round of the tournament. Each team is guaranteed to play three games in the double-elimination format.

Clemson will travel to Athens, GA on December 28 for a non-conference televised matchup with Georgia. The two schools have played at neutral sites the last two seasons and will play a home-and-home series over the next two years. The Tigers have not played in Athens since the postseason NIT in 1986, when future NBA player Horace Grant recorded a double-double to lead Clemson to a 77-65 victory.

The ACC season begins at home versus Florida State. It will mark the first time in the last five years that Clemson does not begin conference play against Duke. In fact, this season marks the first time since 1953-54 that the Tigers and Blue Devils will not play at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Clemson and Duke are scheduled to play on ESPN on Saturday, January 14.

Due to the expansion of the conference, the Tigers also will not play at Raleigh and North Carolina will not play in Clemson for the first time since the 1972-73 season. Clemson will play Florida State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest twice. The Tigers play each of the six remaining teams once for the 16-game conference schedule. Clemson will play just one Sunday game the entire season, a home contest with N.C. State on January 29.

2005-06 Men’s Basketball Schedule