Young Tigers Are Making An Impression On The League

Feb. 6, 2001

Clemson currently has the top freshman score and top freshman rebounder in the ACC. Tiger reserve guard Tony Stockman paces the league’s freshmen in scoring with a 12.1 average, while classmate Chris Hobbs is the top freshman rebounder in the league with a 6.3 figure. Clemson has never had the top freshman scorer and rebounder in the ACC in the same year.

Both are among the league leaders in other areas as well. Stockman stands eighth in the league in three-point goal percentage and is10th in three-point goals per game. He now has 51 for the season, tying Andrius Jurkunas for the Clemson freshman record. Jurkunas had 51 in 1995-95. Hobbs stands fourth in the ACC in rebounds in league games and is eighth in overall games. He is the only freshman in the ACC shooting at least 50 percent from the field and 70 percent from the foul line.

Clemson also has received a strong contribution by Dwon Clifton. The rookie from Louisburg, NC has started every ACC game this year, something only Will Solomon has also done. He is averaging 4.2 points per game overall, but is scoring at a 6.0 points per game figure in league contests. He has made 42 percent of his three-point goals in league play.

Along with his impressive rebounding, Chris Hobbs is shooting 52.2 percent from the field and 74.6 percent from the foul line so far this season. The rookie from Chapel Hill is trying to join an exclusive group of Tiger freshmen who have made at least 50 percent of their shots from the field and 70 percent from the foul line.

There have been just four Clemson freshmen in history who have shot at least 50 percent from the field and 70 percent from the foul line, none since Elden Campbell turned the accomplishment in 1986-87. That year, Campbell hit 55.4 percent from the field and 70.2 percent from the line as an understudy to senior ACC Player of the Year Horace Grant. As you can see by the chart below, Grant also accomplished the feat in 1983-84. Vincent Hamilton (1980-81) and Fred Gilliam (1979-80) are the only other Clemson freshmen to do it.

It is apparent that shooting 50 percent from the field and 70 percent from the line in the same season is no easy accomplishment. A check to the final stats shows that no Clemson players, regardless of class, has done it since 1991-92. That year, junior Corey Wallace shot 53.8 percent from the field and 71.2 percent from the foul line.