Men’s Basketball to Host Queens in Exhibition Saturday Night

Nov. 3, 2011

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson men’s basketball team will play host to Queens University on Saturday in its lone public exhibition, prior to the start of the regular season next Friday. The Tigers and Royals will tip off at 7:00 PM from Littlejohn Coliseum. The event will be free of charge, and seating will be general admission.

The Tigers are coming off four consecutive berths in the NCAA Tournament, a first in school history. Last year, Clemson compiled a 22-12 overall record in Brad Brownell’s first season as head coach. He established Clemson’s first-year records for total wins and ACC regular season wins (9), and also guided the Tigers to wins in both the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament in the same season for the first time in 21 years.

Clemson returns three starters from last year’s squad in Tanner Smith and Andre Young. The Tigers also return sixth man and leading bench scorer Milton Jennings. Young is the top returning scorer for the Tigers after averaging 11.1 points per game last season. He also led the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio. The Tigers led the ACC and were 24th nationally in scoring defense, yielding just 61.4 points per game.

Saturday’s contest will be Queens’ second exhibition of the season. Last weekend, the Royals fell to the College of Charleston by a score of 89-65. Junior forward Antonio Stabler had 20 points in the loss, while leading returning scorer Daniel Bailey chipped in 12. The Royals were 21-8 last season at the Division II level.

Queens is coached by Clemson graduate Wes Long, who was a walk-on and manager for the Tigers from 2000-04. Ray Henderson, another Clemson graduate, is one of Long’s assistant coaches. He was a two-year starter at forward for the Tigers from 1999-2003, scoring 648 points and grabbing 633 rebounds in his career.

The regular season tips off Friday, Nov. 11 at 8:00 PM when Clemson plays host to Gardner-Webb. Call 1-800-CLEMSON or visit the ticket link on the ClemsonTigers.com home page for ticket information.