North Carolina State University Athletics
Gary Hahn's Scouting Report: Clemson
1/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NC STATE (11-4, 0-1) at No. 18 CLEMSON (13-3, 1-1)
DATE: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 @ Littlejohn Coliseum,
TIME: Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. EST
RADIO: Wolfpack Sports Network
AIRTIME: 6:30 p.m. EST
TELEVISION: Fox Sports South
OPPONENT The three-point shot is a big weapon in college basketball and the 2007-08 edition of the Clemson Tigers, including center Trevor Booker, are shooting it better than probably any Clemson team in recent memory.
Booker's gone 4-of-4 from behind the arc the past two games after not making any in his first 49 career appearances. No doubt his biggest one came Saturday night against
Later, freshman Terrance Oglesby sank three of his six 3-pointers in the second overtime to put the game away and give Clemson a 97-85 win.
In between the heroic efforts of Booker and Oglesby came an equally important short-range buzzer-beating shot by James Mays which sent the contest to double-overtime. With time running out, Mays followed in a K.C Rivers miss with a short fadeaway to tie the game at 78-all.
The victory was Clemson’s seventh straight over
Five Clemson players scored in double-figures, led by Booker’s 29 points and 19 by Oglesby who was 6-of-10 from behind the 3-point line. Mays recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Tigers shot 51 percent for the game and 54 percent from the bonusphere (13-24). The Seminoles matched Clemson on the boards, made 19 of 25 free throws and staged a remarkable second-half comeback after trailing 56-45.
FSU's zone defense created havoc for the bigger Tigers and the Seminoles shot 60 percent in the second half, but the outmanned Noles wore out at the end.
Playing basically without three of their top four post players (freshman Julian Vaughn played only 3 minutes) the Seminoles had five men see at least 40 minutes of action.
Clemson has excellent offensive balance with five players scoring in double figures, 39 percent team 3-point shooting and a strong inside game. The Tigers ability to drive the ball to the hoop from at least four positions also keeps opposing defenses honest.
Few teams can match
Rivers and Booker have elevated their play. Rivers, is ranked in the top-10 in the ACC in scoring while Booker is near the top in rebounding and blocked shots. In the last two games, Booker has averaged 30.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.5 blocks.
Freshman Demontez Stitt is playing as well as expected at point guard while veteran guard Cliff Hammonds’ ability to distribute the ball has taken some of the load off of Stitt.
Oglesby has added more long-range shooting to Clemson’s arsenal. Seventy-two percent of Oglesby’s shots come from 3-point range. He’s shooting nearly 43 percent from the arc and leads the team in 3-point field goals (42) and attempts (98).
The Tigers are athletic, fast and deep. Clemson has nine players averaging at least 9 minutes a game led by
Opponents are shooting only 43 percent from the field and 31 percent from the 3-point arc against the Tigers defense. Clemson’s pressure in the half court (and sometimes full court) has been very effective, causing an average of 18 turnovers a game. The Tigers lead the ACC in steals (10.6).
Booker and 6-9 reserve Raymond Sykes have combined to average 3.4 blocked shots per game.
When shots won’t go down, the Tigers do a terrific job crashing the offensive glass. Clemson gets back nearly 49 percent of its misses and averages 17 offensive rebounds a game.
As in past seasons, the Tigers aren’t very good at the foul line (.648), but Booker, Oglesby and Stitt all shoot at least 70 percent from the stripe.
NC State has won 8 of the last 10 games in the series, but lost last season’s only meeting in
PROBABLE CLEMSON STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Class PPG RPG APG
02 Demontez Stitt G 6’2 Fr. 8.4 1.4 3.2
25 Cliff Hammonds G 6’3 Sr. 10.5 3.8 3.9
35 Trevor Booker C 6'7 So. 12.5 9.1 2.3*
40 James Mays F 6'7 Sr. 11.7 7.0 2.9
01 K.C. Rivers F 6'5 Jr. 15.6 7.1 1 .9
TOP RESERVES:
22 Terrence Oglesby G 6’2 Fr. 11.9 2.1 1.6
15 David Potter G/F 6'6 So. 5.7 2.6 1.1
12 Raymond Sykes C/F 6'9 Jr. 5.2 3.0 1.0*
45 Jerai Grant F 6'8 Fr. 2.6 2.8 --
* Blocked shots per game
A WIN--Would be the Wolfpack's first ACC victory of the season and 8th victory in the last 9 games overall. State would improve to 12-4 and 1-1 in the ACC. The Pack’s road record would improve to 2-3. State would earn its 9th victory in the last 11 games of the Clemson series. The Pack would record its third straight win at Littlejohn Coliseum and beat the Tigers on their home court for the 5th time in the last 6 tries. State will be looking for a season-series sweep of Clemson when the teams meet again on February, 16th in
A LOSS--Would be the Wolfpack's second straight, marking its second two-game losing streak of the season. State would drop to 11-5 overall, 0-2 in the ACC, and 1-4 on the road. Clemson would win its second straight game in the series and snap a two-game home losing streak to the Wolfpack at Littlejohn Coliseum. The Tigers would improve to 14-3 overall and 2-1 in the ACC with victories in their last two games. Clemson improves to 9-2 at home and will look for its first season-series sweep of the Wolfpack since 2000 when the teams meet again on February 16th in
INJURIES The injury bug has taken a bite out of the Wolfpack this season. Starting point guard Farnold Degand was lost for the season with a knee injury suffered on December 23 vs.
POINT GUARD BY COMMITTEE With the injury to Farnold Degand, the Wolfpack has been forced to rotate two young and inexperienced point guards. Freshman Javier Gonzales and sophomore transfer Marques Johnson are going through on-the-job training. In the five games since Degand went down, the point guard position has been responsible for only 12 turnovers and the Pack is 4-1 during that span.
TAKE A STAND State has good size and that length has helped the Pack compile some impressive defensive numbers. The Wolfpack is allowing opponents only 63 points a game and .385 shooting from the field this season (.335 from 3-point range).
IMPRESSIVE STREAK In the last 8 games, State has 7 wins. During that stretch, the Pack has held its opponents to 61.3 points (491) and .316 shooting from the field (191-604). The Pack has won the rebounding battle in six games and outscored the competition 153-58 at the foul line.
THE LINE HAS BEEN KIND Free throw shooting has been a big offensive weapon for the Wolfpack. State has made more free throws this season than its opponents have attempted (272-to-186). Overall, State is shooting .706 percent from the foul line.
LONG DISTANCE BLUES After shooting a respectable 36 percent from 3-point range last season, State’s numbers have fallen off in the 2007-08 campaign. The Pack is connecting on just 30 percent of its shots from the bonusphere (68-228) and no active Wolfpack player is shooting 34 percent or better.
THERE’S ROOM INSIDE THE ARC Take away State’s three-point shooting this season and the numbers are very impressive. The Wolfpack has connected on 53 percent of its 2-point shots (264-502).
ALL ACC ROOKIE CANDIDATE Freshman center J.J. Hickson leads all ACC rookies in scoring (16.3) and is second in rebounding (7.7). The
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