Clemson Faces North Carolina in Chapel Hill Thursday

Game Information vs. North Carolina:
Who: Clemson Tigers (10-6, 0-3 ACC) at North Carolina Tar Heels (11-5, 1-2 ACC)
When: Thursday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m.
Where: Carmichael Arena, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Watch: ACC Network Extra
Listen: Clemson Tigers Network/ClemsonTigers.com
Live Stats: GoHeels.com
Follow: Twitter & Instagram: @ClemsonWBB

Clemson Team Notes:

• The Tigers are 10-6 (0-3 ACC), and are coming off of a 70-41 loss against Virginia in Charlottesville on Sunday, Jan. 7. Senior Alexis Carter scored 12 points in the contest, and has led the Clemson team in scoring the last two consecutive games.
• Through 16 games and through games of Jan. 9, 2018, Clemson is ranked second in the ACC and eighth in the nation in scoring defense (54.4). The Tigers are also second in the conference in field goal percentage defense (34.6%) and three-point field goal percentage defense (26.4%), and are 15th and 16th, respectively, in the national rankings in those two categories.
• Clemson’s defense has held two of the nation’s top-15 teams to some of their lowest scoring outputs of the season. On Nov. 16, the Tigers held No. 9/5 South Carolina to 66 points in Littlejohn Coliseum, the Gamecocks’ second-lowest point total of the season to date. On Jan. 4, also at home at Littlejohn, Clemson held No. 13/12 Florida State to 69 points, tied for the Seminoles lowest scoring output through their first 16 games.
• The Tigers rank second in the ACC and 21st nationally with 86 blocked shots, and second in the league and 22nd in the nation with 5.4 blocked shots per game.
• Clemson finished nonconference play with a 10-3 record in 2017-18. In the past two seasons, the Tigers have a 21-5 (.808) record in nonconference play (11-2 in 2016-17 and 10-3 in 2017-18). It is the best two-year nonconference record for the program since the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons, when Clemson was 23-4 (.852) in two seasons.

Clemson Player Notes: 

• Junior Danielle Edwards leads the Tigers in scoring with 10.5 points per game. She also leads the team in steals (45, 2.8 per game) and assists (32, 2.0 per game.)
• Edwards’ 45 steals put her at third among ACC players and 19th among all players nationally.
• The Tigers have two players in the top 10 in the ACC in blocked shots. Freshman Tylar Bennett (35, 2.2 per game) is third in the ACC, while sophomore Kobi Thornton (24, 1.5 per game) is ninth in the league.
• Thornton, an ACC All-Freshman Team selection last season, is tied for second on the Clemson team in scoring with 8.4 points per game and leads the Tigers in rebounding with a 6.6 per game average.
• In Clemson’s 67-66 Big Ten/ACC Challenge win at Nebraska on Nov. 30, Edwards bested her previous career-high by 10 points, going off for 33 points in 33 minutes in Lincoln. The point guard from Perry Hall, Md. shot 9-for-15 (60%) from field goal range, including 5-for-9 (55.6%) from three-point range, and was also a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.
• Edwards posted nine steals in the Tigers’ 56-48 win over South Carolina State on Nov. 13, tying the Clemson record for steals in a single game. Four different players have recorded nine steals in a game previously for the Tigers, however, it had not been done in 30 years, when Ramona O’Neil picked up nine steals against Virginia on Feb. 14, 1987.
• In the Tigers’ 66-30 win over Charleston Southern on Dec. 2, senior Alexis Carter led 11 different Tigers in the scoring column with 12 points. Those 12 points were scored on a perfect 12-for-12 performance from the free-throw line. With that performance, Carter tied the Clemson record for perfect free throw games, joining Itoro Umoh who was 12-for-12 against North Carolina on Feb. 1, 1998.

Series Information:

• Clemson has a 28-55 record in the all-time series against North Carolina.
• The Tigers won last season’s meeting between the two teams, a 78-67 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum on Feb. 5, 2017. Two players posted double doubles in the win over the Tar Heels, Aliyah Collier (27 points, 14 rebounds) and Kobi Thornton (19 points, 11 rebounds), while Danielle Edwards and Jaia Alexander also scored in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively.