First Meeting this Year
Clemson Downs Florida State, 53-48
Point guard Vernon Hamilton keyed a suffocating Clemson defense with five steals, and reserve guard Shawan Robinson led all scorers with 10 points, as the Tigers downed Florida State , 53-48, on January 13, 2004 at Littlejohn Coliseum.

It was the first ACC victory for first-year head coach Oliver Purnell. The 48 points scored by Florida State were the fewest by a Clemson opponent this year and the fewest by an ACC team against the Tigers since NC State scored 42 in a 59-42 Clemson victory over the Wolfpack on January 27, 2000.

Purnell's team might have played its top defensive game of the season in gaining the victory. The Tigers held the Seminoles to 37 percent field goal shooting, including 30 percent on three-point attempts (6-20). Leonard Hamilton's team entered the game shooting 47.2 percent overall and an ACC best 41 percent on three-point shots.

"It was all about defense tonight," said Purnell. "We didn't shoot the ball very well, only 35 percent from the field, and we still turned it over 18 times. But we made defensive plays down the stretch. Vernon made two super steals on the defense end that prevented Florida State from scoring and regaining the momentum. It was defense all night."

While both teams were well under their scoring average the teams' attacks were balanced. Clemson played nine players and all nine scored, had at least one field goal and at least one rebound. Florida State played 11 players and no one reached double figures, but eight of the 11 scored.

Robinson led the Tigers with 10 points, including a game best three three-point shots. Lamar Rice, also a reserve, added nine points and five rebounds. Hamilton and Chey Christie added seven points apiece. Hamilton also had seven assists and a season high tying five steals to go with just one turnover in 35 minutes against Florida State's noted perimeter defense.

Michael Joiner, starting senior forward, led Florida State with nine points and seven rebounds and freshman reserve center Alexander Johnson, who also had nine. Tim Pickett, a preseason All-ACC selection, had just eight points on 3-14 shooting, including 2-11 on three-point attempts. Von Wafer, a freshman forward, added eight points and was the only player in the game to score four field goals.

Clemson, ranked second in the ACC in rebounding entering the game, had a +7 rebound margin (38-31) and forced more turnovers than it committed (20-18) for the first time in 10 games. Clemson outscored Florida State 23-17 in points off turnovers, greater than the final margin on the scoreboard.

Clemson jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the first nine minutes of the game, thanks in part to three-point shooting. Clemson scored 10 consecutive points including three-point goals by Robinson and Rice to take the eight-point advantage. Clemson moved the margin to 27-16 with 1:09 left in the half on a pair of free throws by Sharrod Ford, who played 30 minutes despite a cyst problem in his right knee. Clemson held Florida State to just three points in the final 6:30 of the first half and led 27-19 at halftime.

Clemson made just 1-8 shots to open the first half and still had just two field goals over the first 6:30 of the second half, allowing Florida State to take a 30-29 lead with 12:47 remaining in the game. But that would be Florida State's only lead of the second half.

Clemson went on a 15-3 run over a nine-minute period to take a 44-33 lead. Florida State did not score a field goal from the 12:47 mark until the 3:47 mark of the second half. The defense was keyed by Hamilton. With the score 34-32 in favor of the Tigers with 9:37 left, he broke up a 3-on-1 break by stealing the ball from Anthony Richardson, a 6-7 forward who appeared to be headed for a game tying dunk.

"Vernon's steal from Richardson off that break allowed us to keep the momentum," said Purnell. "It was a great play."

Florida State decided to put Clemson at the foul line down the stretch. Clemson did not have a field goal attempt in the last four minutes and allowed the Seminoles to get back into the game by making just 9-17 free throws down the stretch. Florida State cut the margin to 51-48 with 14 seconds left when Todd Galloway made a pair of free throws. But, Chey Christie answered with a pair of free throws with 13.3 seconds left. Nate Johnson, a 54-percent three-points shooter missed a three-point attempt and when Chris Hobbs pulled in the rebound, Clemson had its first ACC victory of the season.

Kennedy and Maravich Coached at Midcourt One of the more unique games of the series took place before Florida State was in the ACC. On January 8, 1962, Clemson defeated FSU 75-69. In that game, both coaches, Bud Kennedy of Florida State, and Press Maravich of Clemson, sat side-by-side at mid-court while the game was in progress.

Both coaches, who were good friends, had dinner together the night before the game at Sports Information Director Bob Bradley's home in Clemson and decided to watch the game together. During timeouts they huddled with their team, then returned to their chairs at mid-court. Clemson defeated a 15-8 Florida State team twice that season.

Last Trip to Tallahassee Florida State Downs Clemson 60-59
Anthony Richardson converted two free throws with 0.4 seconds left to give Florida State a 60-59 victory over Clemson on Jan. 21, 2003. It was a difficult loss for the Tigers who trailed for only 1:08 of the 40 minutes.

Olu Babalola led the Tigers in scoring for the first time in his career with 12 points, while Sharrod Ford and Shawan Robinson added 11 apiece. It was a season high for Robinson, who had 4-5 shots from the field, including 3-4 three-pointers. Edward Scott had nine points and six assists in playing all 40 minutes for the eighth time this year.

Tim Pickett, who had made just 29 of his last 87 shots from the field, made 7-11 in this game and scored a game high 21 points for Florida State. Richardson, a high school teammate of Clemson's Robinson, added 12 points. Trevor Harvey had 11 points in 24 minutes.

Clemson shot 46 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle 30-29, but the Tigers made just 9-17 free throws, including just 4-9 in the second half. The Tigers also had a season high 19 turnovers. Florida State won the points in the paint battle, 28-22, the first time all year Clemson had been outscored in terms of points in the paint.

The two teams battled to a 10-10 tie for the first seven minutes of the game. Clemson then went on a 6-0 run to take a 16-10 lead on two free throws by Chris Hobbs. Robinson entered the game with eight minutes left in the first half and made an immediate impact. He scored 11 points in the next five minutes and almost personally gave Clemson a 12-point lead at 35-23.

But, Florida State went on a 10-1 run the rest of the half and cut Clemson's margin to 36-33 at intermission. Clemson shot 54.2 percent in the first half against a Florida State defense that had allowed just 37.6 percent shooting heading into the game.

Florida State then scored four straight to open the second half and took its first lead of the game at 37-36 with 18:55 left. The two teams struggled on offense for much of the second half. Clemson took a 44-39 lead with 14:29 left on a layup by Edward Scott. But, Clemson did not score a field goal for the next five minutes. The margin never got higher than four points for either team over the last 14 minutes of the game.

The last 30 seconds of the game were frantic. With 15 seconds left Harvey hit a jumper to give the Seminoles a 58-57 lead. Clemson then came back and scored on a jumper by Chris Hobbs with seven seconds left. Florida State called timeout.

The Seminoles then in-bounded the ball. Todd Galloway missed an off-balanced shot from the right side, but in the rebound action, Sharrod Ford was called for a foul. After looking at the monitor for several minutes, the officials ruled the foul had taken place with 0.4 seconds left. Clemson coaches felt the foul had occurred after the buzzer had sounded. Richardson made the two free throws to take a 60-59 lead. Clemson's long distance pass was intercepted and the game ended.

Last time out for Tigers
Babalola Scores Career High 22 Points
Olu Babalola scored a career high 22 points and Clemson shot nearly 54 percent from the field, best against the Demon Deacons in 57 games, but it was not enough as the Tigers dropped an 82-67 decision to 18th ranked (ESPN/Coach's poll) to Wake Forest on Thursday night. Wake Forest, who had lost six of its last eight, improved to 14-6 overall, 5-5 in the ACC. Clemson fell to 9-12 overall, 2-8 in the ACC.

The victory gave Wake Forest a season sweep over the Tigers and both victories were by exactly 15 points. Earlier this year Wake Forest defeated Clemson 78-63 in Winston-Salem. It was Clemson's fourth straight game against a top 25 team, just the fifth time in school history Clemson has played four straight against ranked opponents.

The two games with Wake Forest were similar in terms of the flow of the game. In the first meeting back on January 10, Wake Forest led 32-23 at halftime despite shooting 0-7 on three-point. Wake Forest had a 32-25 lead and had shot just 2-12 from three-point land in the first half on Thursday.

In the first meeting in Winston Salem, Clemson mounted a second half rally to cut the lead to 51-48 with 9:15 left before losing by 15. On Thursday, Clemson rallied to cut Wake Forest's lead to 51-48 with 10:31 left before losing by 15.

Clemson shot 22-41 from the field for the game, 53.7 percent, including 6-11 on three-point shots, 54.5 percent. Clemson's 53.7 percent field goal shooting was the best against Wake Forest in the last 57 games dating to a 54.7 overall field goal percentage by Maryland against Wake Forest in 2001-02, the Terps National Championship season. Only a top 10 Texas team (.517) and number-one ranked Duke (.519) had shot over 50 percent from the field against Wake Forest this season.

Clemson was coming off a 46 percent shooting effort at Duke, best against the Blue Devils in the last 18 games.

The keys to Thursday's game were free throw shooting and rebounding. Clemson made just 17-34 from the line for 50 percent, while Wake Forest was 28-35 for 80 percent. Clemson committed 20 turnovers and forced just 11. Clemson entered the game leading the ACC in rebounding, but Wake Forest had the upper hand 30-27 on Thursday evening.

Babalola's 22 points came on 5-7 shooting from the field, 2-3 on three-point shots and 10-12 from the foul line. He had just one turnover in his productive 27 minutes. He had scored 17 points in a game twice previously in his career, once last year at Georgia Tech, and earlier this year in a win over Wofford. He now has 36 points in his last two games in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Supporting Babalola was Chey Christie, who had 10 points, five assists and just two turnovers in 29 minutes. Lamar Rice added nine points in just 18 minutes on 3-3 shooting, including 2-2 on three-point shots, while Vernon Hamilton added eight points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Wake Forest was led by Justin Gray, who scored 29 points on 7-13 shooting, 4-9 on three-point goals and 11-12 from the foul line. It was the most free throws made by a Clemson opponent this year. His scoring total was the second most against Clemson this year, trailing only the 36 by B.J. Elder of Georgia Tech. He also had five assists and no turnovers in 33 minutes. Gray shot just 3-14 and scored just nine points against Clemson in the first meeting between the two teams.

Babalola made a similar turnaround for Clemson from the last meeting with the Demon Deacons. He did not score in eight minutes in the first game in Winston-Salem.

Supporting Gray were freshman guard Chris Paul, who scored 16 and had five assists. Jamaal Levy added 12 points and a game high eight rebounds before he fouled out. Chris Ellis, who had made just five field goals all year, was 3-4 in the game and scored a season high eight points in just 11 minutes.

Clemson out-shot Wake Forest 47 percent to 34.5 percent in the first half, yet trailed by seven at halftime. It was a four-point game at 54-50 with 9:52 left when Wake Forest went on a 15-2 run to take a 69-52 lead with 6:29 left on a steal and layup by Taron Downey. Clemson went on a 9-3 run to cut the margin to 72-61 with 2:52 left, but the Tigers never got the margin under 10 the rest of the game.

"We need to do a better job of defending and rebounding," said Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell. "We shot 54 percent from the floor, but Wake Forest shot 66 percent in the second half. Combine that with the fact that we were horrible from the foul line, and that is the tale of the tape. We have to make free throws. We were doing a good job getting to the line, but we never took advantage of it. In the first half they were 10-10 and we were 6-16."

"I thought Clemson just kept fighting scratching and clawing. But, that is typical of Oliver's teams. We were just fortunate that we made more of our free throws than they did. That was probably the difference in the game."

Clemson on Valentine's Day
Clemson has a 19-18 record on Valentine's Day in its history. There have been many memorable moments on this day in Clemson basketball history.

Babalola Records Career High
Olu Babalola scored a career high 22 points in Clemson's recent game with 18th ranked Wake Forest. The scoring outburst exceeded his previous high game of 17, recorded earlier this year against Wofford and at Georgia Tech last season.

Babalola had a fine all-around game with the 22 points thanks to 5-7 field goal shooting, including 2-3 on three-point goals. He made a career high 10 free throws in 12 attempts and had just one turnover in 27 minutes of play.

Babalola, a junior from London, England, now has 38 points over his last three games and has made 10 of his last 19 shots from the field, including 4-7 three-point shots and 14-18 free throws. He had 14 points in Clemson's win over North Carolina on January 31 in just 24 minutes of play. For the year he is averaging 9.1 points per game and made a team best 75.7 percent of his free throws.

Clemson Field Goal Percentage Moving Up
While Clemson continues to have problems with turnovers (19.8 per game) and poor free throw shooting (.621 for the season and 50 percent over the last two games), Clemson has improved dramatically in field goal percentage. Over the last three games Clemson has made 67 of 129 field goal attempts, a .520 figure.

Clemson shot 55.6 percent against North Carolina, including .846 (11-13) from three-point land. That is the top three-point shooting game in the nation this year by 12 percent and the sixth best single game three-point shooting game in NCAA history (minimum of 10 made).

Clemson made 20-43 shots from the field at #1 ranked Duke, a .465 figure that is the third best shooting game against Duke this year, best over the Blue Devils 18-game winning streak. Clemson then made 25-42 shots against Wake Forest for .537 figure. That is the best shooting game against Wake Forest in the last 57 games. Clemson also made 6-11 three-point goals in that game and is now 19-33 on three-point shots over the last three games.

For the year, Clemson is now shooting 45 percent from the field, ahead of the 42.6 shooting mark for the opposition. Clemson is now out-shooting the opposition from three-point land by 32.8 to 32.6.

Clemson Has Wins in Basketball and Football
With Clemson's win over Florida State in January at Clemson it gave the Tiger athletic program wins over the Seminoles in football and basketball in the same year, the first time that has happened since the 1976-77 academic year. That year Clemson won at Tallahassee on the gridiron by a 15-12 score and won a non-conference men's basketball game at Littlejohn Coliseum by a 108-92 score later that academic year.

Earlier this year Clemson defeated Florida State in football, 26-10. The Seminoles were ranked third in the nation entering the game at Clemson and the victory was the highest ranked team Clemson has ever beaten in football.

Purnell Familiar with Waleskowski Family
Clemson coach Oliver Purnell probably has a good scouting report on one of the Florida State players. Seminoles forward Adam Waleskowski is the brother of current Dayton forward Keith Waleskowski, who was recruited by and played for Purnell at the Ohio based school.

Keith Waleskowski is a senior on Dayton's team this year and played three years for Purnell at Dayton. He is starting and had 20 points for the Flyers against third ranked St. Joseph's (PA) earlier this week. Adam is a junior on Florida State's team this season and is is averaging 5.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Both of the Waleskowski's are from Kettering, OH, the same town that produced the Paxson brothers, Jim and John, who played at Dayton and Notre Dames respectively. Both are currently in NBA administration.

Robinson, Richardson former High School Teammates
Shawan Robinson, Clemson starting guard, and Florida State reserve forward Anthony Richardson were teammates at Leesville Road High School in Raleigh three years ago. Robinson is a sophomore at Clemson and Richardson a junior at Florida State. They were teammates at Leesville Road during the 2000-01 and 1999-00 academic years.

We are not sure if that individual rivalry is a motivation or not, but Robinson played his best basketball against Florida State during his freshman year. In three games against the Seminoles last year Robinson made 12-18 shots from the field, including 5-6 three-point shots. He had 34 points in just 46 minutes in the three games, an average of 11.3 per game. That includes a 14-point effort in just 20 minutes against the Seminoles in the ACC Tournament. He had 11 points in just 14 minutes in the game in Tallahassee. Then, in the first meeting this year he led Clemson in scoring with 10 points in Clemson's five point win. He is now 8-16 on three-point shots and is averaging 11.0 points per game against the Seminoles.

So far this year Richardson is third on the Florida State team in scoring with a 8.9 average. He is shooting 46 percent from the field and averaging 21 minutes per game. He has started 16 of the 24 games so far his season.