Clemson vs. Virginia Tech Post-Game Notes

March 2, 2005

Clemson vs. Virginia Tech Notes Clemson 66, Virginia Tech 64 March 1, 2005 at Littlejohn Coliseum

*Sharrod Ford scored on a dunk with 0.2 seconds left off a pass from Shawan Robinson to give Clemson a 66-64 victory over Virginia Tech. It is the latest game winning basket in Clemson history. The previous latest game-winning basket was Greg Buckner’s dunk with 0.6 seconds left to beat North Carolina in the 1996 ACC Tournament, 75-73. There have been six recorded scores with one second left that have won games for Clemson, but none at the buzzer.

*Olu Babalola, like Ford a senior in his final regular season home game, scored a three-point goal with 9.8 seconds left to tie the game. Babalola had made just 2 of his last 16 three-point goal attempts over a nine-game period before hitting that tying shot. He had made just two three-point goals in the last eight games prior to tonight. He was 1-9 from the field from anywhere against Virginia Tech prior to his game tying shot with 9.8 seconds. He finished with seven points and seven rebounds and did not have a turnover in 22 minutes.

*Seniors Babalola and Ford combined to score Clemson’s last 10 points of the game. Ford had seven and Babalola had three.

*Clemson has now won two ACC games within a three-day period. This is the first time Clemson has won two ACC games in a three-day period since the 1989-90 season when Clemson defeated Virginia and NC State in consecutive games between Feb. 10-12. The victory on Tuesday night was Clemson’s first ACC win on one-day’s rest since the 1992-93 season when Clemson defeated Maryland at Clemson. Clemson had lost 13 consecutive ACC games with just one day to prepare prior to tonight.

*Clemson has now won three games by exactly two points this year. This is the first time Clemson has won three games by two points or less since the 1989-90 season when Clemson won the ACC Regular season championship for the only time in its history. That year Clemson won four games by two points or less on the way to a 24-8 season.

*This is the second time this year Clemson has had a game-winning shot with four seconds or less left in the game. Cheyenne Moore hit a three-point goal with 3.4 seconds left to beat South Carolina 62-63 in overtime on Dec. 4. Ford’s game-winning shot came with 0.2 seconds left on Tuesday night against Virginia Tech. This is the first time since the 1986-87 season that Clemson has had two game-winning shots within the last four seconds of a game in the same season.

*It is interesting to note that Moore had been two for his last 15 from three-point range prior to that game-winning shot in Columbia in December. Babalola had been two for his last 16 on three-point shots prior to his game tying shot against Virginia Tech.

*Virginia Tech out-shot Clemson in all three areas, yet the Tigers won the game. Tech won the field goal percentage stat (38.6-33.3), the three-point goal stat (46.2-26.9) and free throw percentage (73.7-65.2). It marked the second time this year that has happened. Clemson also beat Florida State in Tallahassee in January when it was out-shot in all three areas. It had been seven years (1997-98 game at NC State) since Clemson had been out-shot in all three areas, but lost the game.

*Clemson has now won three consecutive ACC games, the first time the Tigers have done that since the 2002-03 season. Clemson will go for four in a row at Georgia Tech on Saturday. Clemson has not won four ACC games in a row since it won the first five ACC games of the 1996-97 season.

*Clemson and Virginia Tech traded two-point victories this year in games that were decided by steals within the last 10 second of the game. When Virginia Tech defeated Clemson in Blacksburg earlier this year, Carlos Dixon made a steal with eight seconds left, drove and dunked with six seconds left. Tonight, Shawan Robinson made a steal with five seconds left, drove to mid-court and fed Sharrod Ford for the winning dunk with 0.2 seconds.

*Ford had his 22nd career double-double in his final home regular season game. It was his third straight double-double, the second time this year and second time in his career that he has had three consecutive double-doubles. He is now eighth in Clemson history in double-doubles. It was his 10th double-double of the season. That is the most double-doubles in a season by a Clemson player since Harold Jamison had 14 in 1998-99. It is only the second time in the last 13 years that a Clemson player has had at least 10 double-doubles in a season.

*Vernon Hamilton made 2-3 three-point shots in the victory tonight. Hamilton as just 7-32 from three-point range prior to tonight’s game. It is the first time this year Hamilton has made more than one three-point goal in a game. He had not made a three-point goal since Jan. 26 at Miami when he was 1-2. It was the first time Hamilton has made at least two three-point goals in a game since the ACC Tournament last year when he had three against Virginia. Thus, Hamilton has made at least two three-point goals in a game just twice in the last 29 games and both have been against schools from the state of Virginia. Hamilton is a native of Richmond, VA.