CLEMSON BASKETBALL

Final Clemson Basketball Notes 2008-09

Final Clemson Basketball Notes 2008-09


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2008-09 Men's Basketball 23-9, 9-7 ACC, 0-1 ACC T, 0-1 NCAA

11/06 Thu USC Aiken (Exh) 94-60W
11/14 Fri Hofstra# 98-54W
11/15 Sat TCU# 70-58W
11/16 Sun Temple# 76-72W
11/19 Wed Wofford 93-40W
11/22 Sat @Charlotte 71-70W
11/25 Tue Savannah St. 81-49W
11/28 Fri PC 79-58W
12/02 Tue @Illinois* 76-74W
12/07 Sun Liberty 80-75W
12/13 Sat SC State 90-63W
12/16 Tue N. Florida 76-36W
12/21 Sun @Miami 91-72W
12/30 Tue @So Carolina 98-87W
01/03 Sat ECU 79-66W
01/06 Tue Alabama 66-59W
01/10 Sat NC State 63-51W
01/17 Sat Wake Forest 78-68L
01/21 Wed @UNC 94-70L
01/25 Sun GaTech 73-59W
01/29 Thu @VaTech 86-82W
02/04 Wed Duke 74-47W
02/07 Sat Florida St 65-61L
02/10 Tue @BC 87-77W
02/15 Sun @Virginia 85-81L
02/17 Tue Maryland 93-64W
02/22 Sun @GaTech 81-73W
02/25 Wed VaTech 80-77L
02/28 Sat @Florida St 73-66L
03/03 Tue Virginia 75-57W
03/08 Sun @Wake Forest 96-88L
03/12 Thu Ga. Tech! 86-81L
03/19 Thu Michigan$ 62-59L
#-Charleston Classic

*-ACC/Big Ten Challenge

!-ACC Tourney

$-NCAA Tourney

Team Notes

•Clemson finished the season with a 23-9 record for a .719 winning percentage. This marks the fifth consecutive year that Clemson has improved its winning percentage from the previous year. Clemson Head Coach Oliver Purnell joins former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins as the only coaches in ACC history to take a program to a better winning percentage in five consecutive years. Cremins did it from 1980-81 through the 1986-87 season.

•Clemson finished the year with 23 wins, tied for the fifth highest total in school history. The .719 winning percentage ranks in a tie for fourth best in school history and the best since the 1989-90 team was 24-8 for a .750 winning percentage.

•The 23 victories gave Clemson at least 20 wins for the third straight year, a first in Clemson history. Clemson has 72 wins over the last three years, third among ACC teams behind North Carolina and Duke.

•Clemson finished the year ranked 24th in the final Associated Press poll. It marks the second consecutive year Clemson has been ranked in the final AP poll, the first time in history Clemson has finished in the top 25 in any poll in consecutive years.

•Clemson was ranked in the AP poll for 14 consecutive weeks and in the USA Today poll for 13 consecutive weeks, the second longest streak of weeks in the top 25 in the same season in Clemson history and most since 1996-97 team was ranked in all 19 polls. Clemson reached a high ranking of #9 in the USA Today poll on Feb. 9, the highest ranking for the program since the 1997-98 season.

•Clemson was selected for the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year, joining Duke and North Carolina as the only ACC schools to make the tournament each of the last two years. It is just the third time in Clemson history that Clemson has gone to the NCAAs in consecutive years.

•Clemson won 10 games away from home, including seven on the opponent’s home court. The 10 wins away from home were the most since the 1996-97 team won a record 11. The seven road wins were the most since the 1986-87 team won eight on the opponent’s home court.

•Clemson had a winning ACC record in regular season play (9-7). Coupled with last year’s 10-6 ACC record, this marks the first time since the 1965-66 and 1966-67 seasons that Clemson has had consecutive wining seasons in ACC play.

•Clemson defeated five NCAA tournament teams during the regular season in Duke, Maryland, Boston College, Temple and Illinois. It is the most wins over NCAA Tournament teams in the regular season for the Clemson program since 1997-98. One of the wins was a 29-point victory over Maryland, the largest margin of victory in Clemson history over the Terps, and tied for the largest margin of victory for a Clemson team against an ACC team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Clemson defeated Florida State in 1997-98 by 29 points.

•Clemson defeated a third-ranked Duke team on Feb. 4 by 27 points, the largest victory margin for the Tigers against the Blue Devils since 1975 and the first regular season win for the Tigers against the Blue Devils since 1997. It was the highest ranked team Clemson has defeated since 2001 when Clemson defeated a number-one ranked North Carolina team. The 27-point victory margin was the largest in Clemson history against a team ranked in the top 25.

•Clemson finished the regular season with a 14-0 record against non-conference teams, one of just eight Division I teams with a perfect non-conference record. The others were Pittsburgh, UCONN, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Minnesota, Illinois State and Stanford.

•Clemson’s 10-point win over Boston College in Boston on Feb. 10 was just the third ACC road win over an ACC team that finished the year with a winning record in the last 22 years. Boston College finished the ACC regular season with a 9-7 record and went to the NCAA tournament.

•The Tigers posted a 4-4 ACC road record this year, the most ACC road wins in a season for the Clemson program since 1996-97.

•The Tigers won seven regular season ACC games by double digits, the most regular season league wins by 10 points or more in Clemson history.

•Statistically, Clemson finished the year with a +10.3 average margin of victory, third best in school history. Clemson’s .688 free throw percentage was the third best for the program in the last 22 years. Clemson’s .374 three-point percentage was the fourth best in school history.

Individual Notes

•Clemson’s senior class of K.C. Rivers, Raymond Sykes and Jesse Yanutola finished their careers with 91 victories, a Clemson record for a four-year class. The previous record was 84. The class also had a record 33 ACC regular season wins and 12 ACC road wins. The .679 winning percentage is second best in Clemson history behind the seniors of 1979-80.

•Head Coach Oliver Purnell was named the NCAA District III Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Writers and was one of 10 finalists for the Hank Iba Award.

•Trevor Booker led the ACC in field goal percentage and rebounding, the first ACC player to do that since Tim Duncan in 1996-97. He is the first ACC underclassman to do it since Dale Davis of Clemson in 1989-90. (It will be virtually impossible for any ACC player to overtake him in either category in the postseason.).

•Booker was named second-team All-ACC, first-team All-District and first-team All-ACC Defense this year.

•Booker finishes his junior year with 1,239 points, the fifth highest total in Clemson history for a junior. He is already seventh in school history in career rebounds with 792 and will need just 208 rebounds his senior year to become the third player in Clemson history with at least 1000 rebounds, joining all-time greats Tree Rollins and Dale Davis. Booker is already first in Clemson history in rebounds among players 6-7 or shorter.

•Booker will enter his senior year with a .576 field goal percentage for his career, fifth best in school history. He also stands fifth in career blocked shots with 204.

•K.C. Rivers leaves Clemson as the school’s career leader in victories (91), ACC wins (35), three-point goals (281) and tied for first in games played (134). He is third in steals (210), fourth in double figure scoring games (90), fourth in field goals (625), sixth in career scoring (1684), and 11th in rebounding (721). He is first among Clemson players 6-5 and under in rebounding.

•Rivers finished his career with 210 steals and 174 turnovers, just the second player in Clemson history to complete a career with more steals than turnovers (Sean Tyson 1987-91).

•Freshman guard Andre Young finished the year with a 2.87/1 assist/turnover ratio (66/23), the second best assist/turnover ratio in Clemson history.

•Raymond Sykes finished his career with 102 career blocked shots, ninth best in Clemson history. He played in 85 victories, second on the Clemson all-time list.

•Terrence Oglesby made 92 three-point goals in 2008-09, fourth highest single season total in school history. Oglesby enters his junior year sixth in school history in three-point goals with 177.

•Demontez Stitt took 18 charges this year, tied for sixth best in Clemson history and most by any Clemson player since Jerry Pryor had 21 in 1987-88.

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