Clemson To Face Samford Saturday

Dec. 28, 2007

Saturday’s game will be just the third meeting in historybetween Clemson and Samford in men’s basketball. The Tigers hold a2-0 advantage in the series, as the games were played 10 yearsapart (1980-81, 1990-91). The Tigers are ranked in the top 25 byboth polls again this week. Clemson is #20 according to the USAToday coaches’ poll and #21 by the Associated Press. Clemson scored90 points on back-to-back days versus Puerto Rico-Mayaguez andDePaul. It marked the first time since the 1986-87 season the Tigerbasketball program scored at least 90 in consecutive days. Sixplayers reached double figures for Clemson in its 90-74 win overDePaul on Dec. 21. It was the first time since the 2002-03 seasonClemson had six scorers in double figures in the same game. JamesMays and Sam Perry returned to action for the Tigers at the SanJuan Shootout. Perry played in all three games after missing six ina row following knee surgery. Mays played 16 second-half minutesagainst Ole Miss in the championship game and blocked a pair ofshots. Mays missed five games in a row due to a hip sprain sufferedagainst Gardner-Webb on Nov. 24. K.C. Rivers was namedall-tournament for the 2007 edition of the San Juan Shootout. Heaveraged 16.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game and led the Tigersto a 2-1 record in the three-game event. Terrence Oglesby was namedACC Rookie-of-the-Week on Dec. 24 after averaging 17.7 points pergame at the San Juan Shootout. He has scored at least 20 points inthree of Clemson’s last four games. Oglesby became the first playerin Clemson history to score more points than minutes played inconsecutive games. He had 22 points in 21 minutes at East Carolinaon Dec. 5, then posted 21 in 19 minutes versus Puerto Rico-Mayaguezon Dec. 20. Raymond Sykes has set his career-high for scoring infour consecutive games. It began Dec. 5 when he scored eight in awin over East Carolina. He then, in succession, posted 11, 12, and17 points in the three-game San Juan Shootout. He made 8-8 fieldgoal attempts in the Ole Miss game on Dec. 22. Cliff Hammonds has211 career three-point goals, and needs just three in Saturday’sgame to tie Will Solomon for second place in school history.Terrell McIntyre (1995-99) is Clemson’s all-time leader with 259three-point goals in his career. Hammonds leads the ACC inassist-to-turnover ratio with a 3.29 figure. He ranks third inschool history and is fresh off a season-high nine assists againstOle Miss. Trevor Booker ranks second in the ACC in both reboundsper game (9.5) and blocked shots per game (2.45). Booker was secondlast season in blocks. He has six double figure rebound totals inthe first 11 games of the season to lead the Tigers.