Tigers Host Florida State Sunday at 2:00 PM

Feb. 26, 2005

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Sunday’s game between Clemson and Florida State will be the500th for FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton. Clemson head coachOliver Purnell coached his 500th game last Saturday at NorthCarolina. Both Hamilton and Purnell are in their 17th seasons asDivision I head coaches. Clemson won the earlier meeting at FloridaState this year, 56-54. Cliff Hammonds led the Tigers with 12points, while Sharrod Ford added 11 points and 12 rebounds. Clemsonwill be attempting to gain just its second regular season sweepover the Seminoles since Florida State joined the ACC in 1991- 92.The only other year Clemson has swept Florida State was the 1997-98season. Clemson defeated Maryland 97-93 in its most recent game,giving Clemson a sweep of the Terps. A sweep over Florida Statewould give Clemson two sweeps in the same season for the first timesince the 1996-97 season when the Tigers swept Georgia Tech andMaryland. Sharrod Ford is coming off his best game as a ClemsonTiger. The senior from Suitland, MD had 24 points, 10 rebounds andnine blocked shots in the win at Maryland. The nine blocked shotswere the most ever by a Clemson player in a road game. He came justone block short of recording the first triple double by a Clemsonplayer in 12 years. Ford moved into ninth place on Clemson’s careerrebound list with his 10 rebounds at Maryland. He now has 712 forhis career. Ford is also fifth in Clemson history in career blockedshots with 168. Clemson freshman Cliff Hammonds has scored indouble figures in seven of his last eight games and has a 10.2average of the season, third best among ACC freshmen. Clemson shot58.2 percent from the field in the win at Maryland, the best fieldgoal percentage by a Tiger team in the Oliver Purnell era, and thebest by any Clemson team in an ACC road game in 18 years. Clemson’s.667 three-point shooting percentage at Maryland (8-12) was thesecond best in Clemson history in an ACC road game, the best in 10years. Sam Perry scored eight points in the win at Maryland. Thefreshman has now scored 40 points in the 13 ACC games, but 22 ofthe 40 have come against Maryland. Clemson freshmen have 54combined starts this year, more than any other ACC school. VirginiaTech is second with 31 combined starts by frosh. This will be agame featuring the highest scoring benches in the ACC. FloridaState gets 41 percent of its points off the bench in ACC play,while Clemson is second with 34 percent of its scoring off thebench.