Tigers to Face Temple in First Round of Charleston Classic Thursday

GAME SETUPCLEMSON (3-0, 0-0 ACC) vs. TEMPLE (1-2, 0-0 AAC)Tipoff:  8 p.m.Tickets:  843-953-2632Web:  ESPN3 (Rich Hollenberg-pbp; Len Elmore-color)Radio:  CTSN (Pete Yanity-pbp; Philip Sikes-color)

• Clemson and Temple meet for the first time since 2008, in the exact same tournament. The Tigers knocked off the Owls in the inaugural Charleston Classic championship game, 76-72.
• The winner of Thursday’s game takes on the winner of Davidson vs. Georgia in the second round on Friday.
• The Tigers are off to a 3-0 start this season, their first since 2010-11, Brad Brownell‘s first season at Clemson.

SERIES HISTORYCU Series W-L record: Temple leads 2-1Streak: Clemson won the last meeting (2008-09)

QUICK HITS

• Clemson and Temple played in the championship game of the inaugural Charleston Classic in 2008. Trevor Booker was named MVP after leading the Tigers to a hard fought 76-72 victory. The Tigers also beat Hofstra and TCU.
• The Tigers are coming off a 71-57 victory over archrival South Carolina on Sunday. It was the second straight win for Clemson over the Gamecocks, and its eighth in the last 10 meetings between the two programs.
• Clemson is ranked first or second in the ACC statistics in four important categories: scoring defense, field goal percentage defense, three-point percentage defense and blocked shots per game.
• The Tigers shot 92.3 percent (24-of-26) from the free throw line in their most recent game, a school record given a minimum of 25 attempts.
• K.J. McDaniels recorded the first 20-10-5 (Pts-Rebs-Blks) game by a Tiger since 2005, when Sharrod Ford achieved the feat at Maryland.
• Temple wing Dalton Pepper played against Clemson in the 2011 NCAA Tournament for West Virginia and had a pair of key steals late in the victory.