Clemson to Travel to Charlottesville to Face Virginia Thursday Night

Feb. 6, 2008

Cliff Hammonds needs two points at Virginia to become the fifth player in ACC history to record at least 1300 points, 400 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals in a career.

A victory at Virginia would give Clemson a 5-3 record in the first half of the ACC schedule. Clemson has not had a winning record for the first half of the ACC season since 1996-97 when Clemson was 6-2 to open the ACC slate. That year Clemson advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

This will be Clemson’s first trip to the John Paul Jones Arena at the University of Virginia. The last time Clemson won its first trip to an ACC opponent’s home court was the 1999-00 season when Clemson won its first game at the RBC Center at NC State.

Thursday’s game is the first of six in an eight-game period for the Tigers on the road.

Trevor Booker suffered a sprained ankle in the first six minutes of the Miami game on Jan. 27. But he started against Boston College and had 10 points and seven rebounds, including six off the offensive boards.

David Potter had a career high tying 11 points in the win over Boston College on Saturday night. It was his first double figure scoring game since December 5 when he had 11 at East Carolina.

Clemson won points off turnovers 30-9, points in the paint 44-28 and second chance points 25-10, in its victory over Boston College.

Clemson senior Sam Perry made his first start of the season in the win over Boston College and likely will continue in that role against Virginia. He had five points two rebounds and two steals in the victory.

Raymond Sykes made 3-6 shots from the field vs. Boston College and is now 28 of his last 40 from the field, a .700 percentage.

Clemson is shooting just 63.5 percent from the foul line this year, but has made 24 of 30 free throws over the last two games, 80 percent.

Clemson has five players averaging in double figures so far this year. Only two Clemson teams in history have finished a season with five double figures scorers, the 1969-70 team and the 2006-07 team. Five different players have led Clemson in scoring at least three times this season.

Cliff Hammonds both have more steals than fouls and more steals than turnovers this year..

Clemson is 13-1 when leading at the half this year. Virginia is 0-5 when trailing at the half.

Two of the top three active career scorers will play head to head on Thursday. Virginia’s Sean Singletary has 1800 points for first among ACC players, while Clemson’s Cliff Hammonds is third with 1298. Singletary is first in career assists wtih 510, while Hammonds is second with 421.