Dec. 1, 2008

Complete Game Notes

Game Setup
Site: Assembly Hall (16,618)
Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008
City: Champaign, IL
Time: 7:30 PM (Eastern Time)
TV: ESPN2 (Jon Sciambi, Fran Fraschilla)
Radio: Clemson Tiger Radio Network (Don Munson, Philip Sikes)

Series History
Overall: Illinois leads 2-0
at Clemson: none played
at Littlejohn: none played
at Illinois: Illinois leads 1-0
at Neutral: Illinois leads 1-0
First Meeting: Illinois, 71-61, in 1997-98
Last Meeting: Illinois, 67-50, in 1998-99

Quick Facts
• Tuesday's game will be the third meeting between Clemson and Illinois. The schools played each other in consecutive seasons, first in 1997-98 and then in 1998-99. The Illini claimed wins in both contests.

• Clemson has an all-time record of 7-2 in the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge. The Tigers have won four of the five ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups under current Head Coach Oliver Purnell.

• The Atlantic Coast Conference has won all nine of the challenges to date. Only Duke (9-0) and Wake Forest (7-1) have a better record than Clemson in the history of the event.

• Clemson is 3-2 on the road in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, but won each of its last two away games, at Penn State and Minnesota in back-to-back years (2005, 2006).

• Head Coach Oliver Purnell earned his 100th win with the Tiger basketball program on Nov. 25 after the Tigers defeated Savannah State, 81-49. He has 357 victories in his career and has now won at least 100 games at both Dayton and Clemson.

• Clemson was once again strong in November, having won its last 26 games in the month under Purnell's watch. The Tiger program owns an alltime record of 94-15 in November as well.

• The Tigers are 1-0 on the road this season and 4-0 away from home. Clemson has won its last seven non-conference road games dating to the start of the 2006-07 season.

• As a team, Clemson ranks first in the ACC in blocked shots with 7.7 per game. Two players, Trevor Booker and Jerai Grant, rank among the top 10 individual shot-blockers in the league.

• Booker leads the ACC in blocks per game (2.7) and is fifth in rebounds per game (9.7). He is Clemson's leading scorer at 14 points per game.

• Grant has made 15 of 17 field goal attempts so far this season, which equates to an incredible 88 percent accuracy. He made 5-5 in Clemson's last game and posted a career-high 11 points against Presbyterian.

• K.C. Rivers had one steal against Presbyterian and tied James Mays for seventh on the school's all-time steals list (166). Rivers is tied with Sharone Wright for 17th on Clemson's all-time scoring list with 1,308 career points.

• Terrence Oglesby ranks second in the ACC in both three-point goals per game (2.6) and three-point accuracy (.486).

• Freshman guard Andre Young has 20 assists this season, compared to just four turnovers. He is one assist shy of qualitying for the ACC stats, where his 5/1 ratio would be second to UNC's Ty Lawson.