Clemson vs. Miami (FL) Postgame Notes

Feb. 28, 2008

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o Tonight was Clemson’s 20th win of the season, the second straight year Clemson has won at least 20. This is just the second time in Clemson history the Tigers have won at least 20 games in consecutive seasons. The other time Clemson had back to back 20-win seasons was 1979-80 and 1980-81. Clemson was 23-9 in 1979-80 and 20-11 in 1980-81. Bill Foster was the head coach of the Tigers for those two years.

o In 1975 Foster tried to hire Oliver Purnell as a graduate assistant coach at Clemson after he had just graduated from Old Dominion. Purnell actually came to Clemson for the interview. But, Purnell took a similar position at Old Dominion instead. Now they are the only coaches in Clemson history with back to back 20-win seasons.

o Purnell now has nine 20-win seasons in his career, one at Radford, two at Old Dominion, four at Dayton and two at Clemson. He is one of seven active coaches with at least one 20-win season at four different schools.

o Cliff Hammonds played in his 80th career win at Clemson this evening. He is now second on the Clemson all time list for victories by an individual Tiger. Elden Campbell has the record with 84 wins between 1986-90.

o Hammonds made his 123rd consecutive start this evening to break Greg Buckner’s Clemson record for consecutive games started. Buckner started 122 in a row from 1994-98.

o Hammonds had been just 9-39 on three-point shots against Miami in his career prior to tonight, but was 3-5 from long range this evening.

o James Mays shot 4-6 from the field after shooting 0-10 at Florida State. Tonight was the first time since January 9 that Mays played without a cumbersome brace on his broken left hand. The healing process has progressed to the point where he no longer has to tie his last three fingers together. He still wears a brace, but the padding is on the back of his hand. Mays was 43-96 from the field with the brace, a .448 percentage in 12 games prior to tonight.

o Clemson has now won six straight ACC home games. This is the longest home winning streak in league games since a record 13 straight Clemson ACC wins from January 7, 1989 through February 28, 1990. Clemson is 6-1 at home in ACC games this year with the only loss coming in overtime to North Carolina.

o Clemson is 6-1 at home this year in the ACC. This is the most ACC home wins for the Tigers in a season since the Tigers were 6-2 in league games in 1995-96.

o Clemson finished February with a 5-2 record. That is Clemson’s best February record since February of 1990 when Clemson had an 8-0 record for the month.

o Clemson shot 10-16 from three-point range tonight for .625. Clemson was coming off a season worst 3-27 on three-point shots in its loss to Florida State. K.C. Rivers was 1-10 on three-point shots at Florida State, but was 4-5 this evening. Clemson made its first five three-point shots and seven of its first eight.

o Clemson has clinched at least a break-even season in the ACC with its victory over Miami. This is the most ACC wins in a season for the Tigers since the 1996-97 season when Clemson was 9-7 in the regular season. This will be just the 11th season in 55 years in the ACC that Clemson has finished with at least a break even record in the ACC.

o Although Miami took a one-point lead in the second half after the Tigers had a 17-point lead at intermission, Clemson gained the win and improved to 17-2 this year when leading at the half. The only two losses were to North Carolina.