Clemson Men’s Basketball to Play Host to Virginia Tech Sunday at 1:30 PM

March 8, 2008

A victory on Sunday would give Clemson 10 ACC wins, tying the school record for ACC wins in a season. The 1986-87 and 1989-90 Clemson teams were 10-4 in league play. The school record for conference wins is 11, set in 1951-52 when Banks McFadden’s team was 11-4 in the Southern Conference.

Sunday is Senior Day for Clemson seniors Cliff Hammonds, Sam Perry, James Mays, Matt Morris and Jesse Yanutola. Clemson has won its last three Senior Day games and is 28-8 on Senior Day over the last 36 years.

Clemson is 17-8 on Senior Day against ACC teams over the last 34 years, a 69 percent winning percentage. Clemson has an overall winning percentage against ACC teams of 33 percent during that time.

This will be the fourth straight year Clemson has played Virginia Tech on a Senior Day for one of the two schools. Clemson is 3-0 in those games, 66-64 win at Clemson on Sharrod Ford’s Senior Day in 2004-05 and wins at Virginia Tech each of the last two years.

Cliff Hammonds will establish the Clemson record for games played when he steps on the court against Virginia Tech. It will be his 130th career game, breaking the previous mark of 129 by Tom Wideman and Harold Jamison from 1995-99. Hammonds has played in 129 in a row, 125 as a starter.

This Clemson senior class has a record of 81-48. The 81 wins rank second in school history behind the 84 wins recorde by the 1989-90 seniors. This senior class has the record for ACC road wins with 10 and is fourth in ACC wins with 28.

A Miami loss on Saturday or a Clemson win on Sunday would give Clemson its first first-round bye in the ACC Tournament since the league went to more than eight teams in 1991-92.

A win on Sunday would give Clemson a winning first half and a winning second half to the ACC schedule since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1991-92. In fact, a victory would give Clemson a 5-3 record in the first half and the second half.

Since down-sizing and then eliminating the protective brace on his broken left hand on Feb. 27, James Mays has shot 18-29 from the field, scored 43 points, had 23 rebounds and six steals in three games. For the year he has shot 53 % without the brace and 43.4 with it on.

Clemson and Virginia Tech have met five times since Virginia Tech entered the ACC in 2004-05. All five have been decided by five points or less with key plays inside the last 20 seconds.

Terrence Oglesby has 72 three-point goals for the year and needs four to break Tony Stockman’s freshman record (75 in 2000-01).

K.C. Rivers needs one three-point goal to become the fourth Clemson player with 200 3-point goals.