Previewing Clemson at UNC

North Carolina

Previewing Clemson at UNC

By Greg Barnes, InsideCarolina

Jan 21, 2009

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Chapel Hill, N.C. — North Carolina aims to continue its climb back up the ACC standings against Clemson on Wednesday, with "The Streak" as the backdrop. Tip-off at the Smith Center is 9 p.m. and the game will be nationally televised by ESPN.

Quotables

“[They are] a great club. We played them three times last year and they could have won all three games. Fortunately, we won all three games. They’ve had a great run. Wake Forest went in and played a heck of a basketball game against them on Saturday, so they’ll be a wounded coming in here. And for us, we’ve just got to make sure that we come out with that emotion that we need to have.” – UNC head coach Roy Williams

"They were definitely the losses that hurt the most last year. You know we had them there so many times, we let them off the hook.” – Clemson guard Terrence Oglesby on the Tigers’ three losses to North Carolina last season

“This year’s team, we’re talking about writing our own script. It’s up to us how hard we work, how we prepare, how we work. We feel like we’re a pretty good basketball team and we’re going to have a chance to win every night. That’s the approach we’re taking at North Carolina. That’s the great thing about playing in the best basketball league in America.” – Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell

PREGAME NOTES

Season to Date: Clemson enters

Wednesday night’s contest with a 16-1 (2-1 ACC) record. The Tigers won their first 16 games of the season, including strong road wins at Illinois, Miami and South Carolina. Head coach Oliver Purnell’s squad lost on Saturday to top-ranked Wake Forest in Clemson, shooting 33.8 percent from the floor in the defeat.

Booker Continuing to Emerge: Trevor Booker has improved with each passing season in the ACC, and now resides at the top of the league in field goal percentage (56.0 percent on 98-of-175) and blocked shots (49). The 6-foot-7, 240-pounder is averaging 15.1 points per outing, and his nine rebounds per game ranks second in the league.

Rolling Down the Rivers: K.C. Rivers is providing the perimeter option to Booker’s post play this season, averaging 14.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. The senior wing enters the Wednesday’s league battle needing just one win to become the winningest player in Clemson history. His 84 career victories are tied with Cliff Hammonds (2004-08) and Elden Campbell (1986-90). Rivers is also just 19 points away from reaching the 1500-point total for his career.

Hustle Stat-Stuffers: Purnell has built a defense known for its aggressive play at Clemson, and those efforts are evidence in the hustle stat rankings. The Tigers lead the ACC in blocked shots per game (7.1 per game) steals per game (10.0), turnover margin (plus-4.71) and in forcing turnovers (18.4 per game).

urprising Stat: Clemson ranks dead-last in the conference in rebounding margin, owning a plus-1.6 advantage over its opponents. The Tigers have been outrebounded by an average of 7.3 boards per game in ACC play.

Sharing the Minutes: One thing making Rivers and Booker’s numbers even more impressive is that due to a significant amount of depth on the Tigers’ roster, both players are seeing less than 30 minutes of action per game. Nine different players are averaging a minimum of 13.2 minutes per outing, with each Tiger having attempted at least 50 shots on the season.

The Streak: North Carolina’s 53-game winning streak over Clemson in Chapel Hill is the longest in NCAA history. The previous longest streak was Princeton’s 52 straight home wins over Brown that lasted from 1929 until 2003. The Tar Heels have beaten the Tigers by double figures in 21 of the last 23 meetings in Chapel Hill (the exceptions were in 1997-98 and 2002-03).

Last Meeting: North Carolina defeated Clemson, 86-81, on March 16, 2008 in the ACC Tournament finals at Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, N.C. Wayne Ellington led the Tar Heels with 24 points and Tyler Hansbrough added 18 points and 11 rebounds as UNC won its second consecutive ACC Tournament championship and an ACC-record 17th overall.

Series History: The Tar Heels lead the all-time series with Clemson, 121-19. The Tar Heels have beaten the Tigers 33 times in the last 39 meetings (since the 1990-91 season). .

Projected Starters:
2 Demontez Stitt (6-2, 175, So.) – 8.6 ppg, 3.6 apg
22 Terrence Oglesby (6-2, 190, So.) - 12.9 ppg
1 K.C. Rivers (6-5, 215, Sr.) – 14.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg
35 Trevor Booker (6-7, 240, Jr.) - 15.1 ppg, 9.0 rpg
12 Raymond Sykes (6-9, 220, Sr.) – 8.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg

Key Reserves:
15 David Potter (6-6, 205, Jr.) – 5.2 ppg
45 Jerai Grant (6-8, 220, So.) – 5.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg
11 Andre Young (5-9, 160, Fr.) – 3.9 ppg, 2.5 apg
5 Tanner Smith (6-5, 205, Fr.) – 3.7 ppg

Most Recent Comments

RE: Previewing Clemson at UNC

Clemson has beaten the Heels during that time, just not at Chapel Hill. I think they're just cursed. ;)

RE: Previewing Clemson at UNC

You basically said the streak has gone on only because they have been horrible most years.

And that is the truth. Clemson has had horrible basketball teams MOST years. Carolina has had very good teams MOST years. In some years (not many) BOTH teams were good, and in some years (not many) BOTH teams were bad. And on a VERY RARE occasion, Clemson had a good team and Carolina had a bad team. And Carolina won all those games. But the main reason for the streak is that Clemson is usually horrible and Carolina is usually good. How else can you explain such a lengthy, dubious streak? If Clemson had great teams in half of those games, they would have squeaked out a win or three. They just had a precious few chances where they had a good chance to win and couldn't get it done.

What I said was not a slam on Carolina, nor was it any kind of praise for Clemson. It's just the truth. When a team is 0-53 (now 0-54) on another team's floor, there's good reason for it. In MOST years, Carolina was simply that much better. In the rare few years that Clemson had the better team, they just couldn't get it done.

Vegas has unc -13...

with the over/under at 163. I would def take the under on 163 and put some on Clemson +13.

Sorry OriginalDookHater...no photos this time.

RE: Previewing Clemson at UNC

Not easy to get it done when one man shoots nearly 3 times the number of FT's as the opposing TEAM in a double OT game. UNC has been a better team than CU far more many times than not. Not sure whay you found truth's comment offensive.

RE: Previewing Clemson at UNC

What about the years WE were the horrible basketball team? Explain that. Or how about the years they were ranked higher than UNC? You basically said the streak has gone on only because they have been horrible most years. Hey, they had their chances, and they couldn't get it done.

WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina