Clemson Men’s Basketball Team to Play Host to Georgia Tech Saturday Afternoon

Jan. 20, 2012

GAME SETUP Site: Littlejohn Coliseum (10,000) Date: Saturday, January 21, 2012 City: Clemson, SC Time: 2:31 PM Radio: Clemson Tiger Sports Properties (Pete Yanity – play-by-play, Tim Bourret – color) TV: ACC Network (Tom Werme – play-by-play, Eddie Fogler – color) | ACC Network Affiliates Web: ESPN3 *Subject to local blackouts.*

SERIES NOTES Overall: Georgia Tech leads 60-59 at Clemson: Clemson leads 40-15 at Littlejohn: Clemson leads 31-8 at Georgia Tech: Georgia Tech leads 42-19 at Neutral: Georgia Tech leads 3-0 First Meeting: Clemson, 26-22, in 1912-13 Last Meeting: Clemson, 65-56, in 2010-11 Streak: Clemson has won three straight

QUICK FACTS Clemson and Georgia Tech meet for the 120th time on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets are one of the Tigers’ oldest rivals, as the series dates to 1912-13, the second season of Clemson basketball. The Tigers have held the upper hand recently in the series. Clemson owns a 9-4 lead in games played since the 2005-06 season, including a current streak of three straight. Saturday’s matchup will be the first meeting between Clemson’s Brad Brownell and Georgia Tech’s Brian Gregory, even though both spent 2006-10 coaching in the same city of Dayton, OH. Brownell was at Wright State, while Gregory was the head coach at Dayton. Former Clemson assistant Josh Postorino is now an assistant at Georgia Tech. He helped the Tigers to three consecutive NCAA appearances from 2008-10, his first year as director of operations and his final two seasons as an assistant coach. Clemson has dropped three straight ACC games by a total of 12 points. The Tigers’ lone conference win was by a 20-point margin over Florida State, so Clemson is +8 in scoring through a quarter of conference play. The Tigers lead the ACC in conference games only with 9.3 steals per game. Clemson has had eight or more steals as a team in all four games, including a high of 10 against Boston College and Miami. Tanner Smith and Andre Young, two natives of the state of Georgia, are a combined 28-of-49 from three-point range in their careers against Georgia Tech. Smith is coming off a 23-point outing at Miami, the second-best single-game scoring mark of his career. He tied a career-high with four three-point goals as well. Young tallied four steals against Miami and moved past former teammate Demontez Stitt and into a tie for eighth (James Mays) on Clemson’s all-time list with 166 career steals. K.J. McDaniels reached double figures for the first time since the game against UTEP in Hawaii, and for just the second time this season when he scored 11 at Miami. Catalin Baciu logged a career-high 19 minutes at Miami and responded with 10 points, which matched his career high. Today’s honorary captain is Randy Mahaffey, a member of the school’s 100th year anniversary all-time team.