NCSU versus Clemson Notes and Links

08-09 Basketball Future Opponents Media53

clemsonThe Wolfpack men’s hoops squad travels tomorrow to play Clemson in its first conference game of the year, and they will not only have to deal with the 15-0 and 12th ranked Tigers, they’ll have to deal with a full house of Clemson fans in Littlejohn:

Looks like Clemson’s 15-0 start has fans excited about basketball.

The school’s ticket office said Thursday that Clemson’s game against North Carolina State on Saturday is a sellout.

The Tigers have a plethora of riches in their backcourt, which is one of the Wolfpack’s primary weaknesses.  Clemson’s defensive pressure has carried the Tigers while their offense has not firing on all cylinders:

[T]he 12th-ranked Tigers did just that Tuesday night against Alabama, shooting a season-low 39.7 percent as a team. But Clemson managed to scratch out a 66-59 victory over the Crimson Tide, thanks to a late-game run fueled by relentless defensive pressure.

“Our defense really picks us up,” sophomore guard Terrence Oglesby said. “That’s one thing we can always rely on. Shots sometimes aren’t going to fall, but we know that our effort on defense is going to be there.”

The combination of the strength of Clemson’s backcourt, ability to press for 94 feet, and overall defense creates an extremely difficult match-up for this Wolfpack team.

Clemson has a couple of wins against SEC teams (and the Wolfpack is 0-1 after the Florida loss) including a recent win against Alabama.  Not suprisingly, given the Tigers’ fans devotion to their football team, some looked at the win against the Crimson Tide hoops team as a bit of revenge for the savaging that the gridiron version of Alabama gave Clemson early in the football season:

With North Carolina State coming to town Saturday and unbeaten Wake Forest making a trip to the Upstate Jan. 17, topping Alabama was the perfect way to end one chapter of the 2008-09 season and begin another.

And don’t underestimate the importance of this one.

The outcome of the schools’ football game was the beginning of the end of Tommy Bowden’s tenure as coach and proved to everyone the Tigers’ were not a Top 10 team.

Finally, some excerpts from the official Clemson game notes:

  • The Tigers moved up to #11 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll and #12 by AP on January 5. It is Clemson’s highest ranking in either poll since Nov. 16, 1997 when Clemson was ranked fifth in the AP poll and seven in USA Today.
  • Clemson has won 15 consecutive home games, its longest home winning streak since the Tigers won a school record 29 in a row in the Elden Campbell and Dale Davis era (1989-90).
  • Clemson has gone over a year without a loss at home. The last home loss was the Charlotte on Jan. 9, 2008, an 82-72 49ers win.
  • Clemson’s home winning streak ranks fifth best in the nation entering this weekend. Notre Dame has the longest with 44 in a row, while Kansas is at 33, Davidson 24, and Arkansas 17. Notre Dame and Arkansas have home games on Saturday.
  • Clemson is the only school in the nation with a home winning streak and a road winning that ranks in the top 10 among active streaks. Clemson has won four straight on opponent’s home courts, tied for sixth best in the nation. Clemson’s next road game is January 21 at North Carolina.

Needless to say, this game will be a major test for NC State and a quality road win if the Pack can pull out a win.

08-09 Basketball Future Opponents Media

53 Responses to NCSU versus Clemson Notes and Links

  1. milkman 01/09/2009 at 4:40 PM #

    Heads up for Direct TV subscribers…Direct TV is offering NCAA Full Court for free from 1/10 through 1/17. That means you can get both the Clemson (1/10) and Georgia Tech (1/17). For folks like me in Cali…that is awesome!!

  2. Gene 01/09/2009 at 6:26 PM #

    Lucky. I’m stuck with Comcast as my cable provider and they do not have ESPN-U, so it’ll be awhile before I get to see another NCSU game.

    Maybe I’ll spend some money and watch something, if available on ACC Select.

    As far as Wall, Favors or Cousins goes the one who will not be one-and-done will be my choice. You want to build a program you need more than a revolving door of one-and-done players.

  3. Primewolf 01/09/2009 at 7:34 PM #

    Hate to say it but I am playing golf and recording the game. There is only so much pain one can stand. However,I will attend all the home games in the RBC with my LTR.

    Looking forward to football next year.

  4. Afterglow 01/09/2009 at 7:43 PM #

    I see an upset tomorrow. Either we win and upset Clemson or we lose and become upset. whichever way, it’s an upset folks!

  5. Ed89 01/09/2009 at 7:51 PM #

    Nice one, Afterglow.
    Does anyone know if the game is being televised on TWC?

  6. Afterglow 01/09/2009 at 8:00 PM #

    Do you mean Time Warner Cable or The Weather Channel?

  7. Ed89 01/09/2009 at 8:28 PM #

    The first one, but that would be nice if it was on The Weather Channel… maybe I’d watch it other than hurricane season.

  8. wolfpackdawg 01/09/2009 at 8:33 PM #

    In other news:

    http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/4534/babytebowgf3.jpg

  9. Afterglow 01/09/2009 at 8:43 PM #

    On second thought, our whole team would probably get struck by lightning and be out for the season if it played on The Weather Channel, so it’s probably better that it’s the first. In any event, I have Comcast so I don’t really know.

  10. Trip 01/09/2009 at 11:46 PM #

    Awesome about the Directv thing, I’m stuck in Florida with family for the weekend so that means I’ll be able to watch the game and get infuriated over it.

  11. b 01/10/2009 at 5:42 AM #

    Clemson hasn’t faced a set of bigs like State’s, but State hasn’t seen a team like theirs either. I was impressed with them against Ill, but the Alabama win is only so-so to me. Hell Mercer beat Alabama. The only Common Foe is ECU and Clesmon probably didn’t handle them as well as State did.

    It will probably go one of two ways, we get blasted from gate and it hovers in the 10-14 range for the rest of the game with State never getting within three possessions. Or Clemson will keep ’em in it and the Pack will steal it late.

    I expect the former, but if any of our guards can have a good game, or Clemson gets in foul trouble in a tightly called ACC game, we might see the game come down to the last two minutes. They foul a lot on the perimeter, so it could be stolen from the FT line as well.

    I hope Clemson comes out too tight knowing they have to have this one with WF and UNC looming, the “record” crowd gets restless or quiet, and State plays hard enough to scare ’em into a late choke. But I doubt it.

  12. BSIE80 01/10/2009 at 9:37 AM #

    State wins 64-59, Costner and Fells have big games
    Clemson’s shoots 33%, out rebounds us, but can’t overcome Fells and Costner’s 3 pt shooting and Ben’s passing
    Degand/Mays struggle with the press but get enough help from Costner/McCauley

  13. Wxwolf 01/10/2009 at 9:39 AM #

    For those of you in the ACC market footprint, but don’t getting the game on local TV or have Full Court, you can watch the game online at:

    http://raycom.swarmcast.net/

  14. packalum44 01/10/2009 at 10:35 AM #

    Just give us a win! I’m willing to resort to begging….please please please win a game. Pretty please. BTW, we are 10 points and 3 victories away from being ranked top 25. Not impressed by their record or ranking.

  15. Rochester 01/10/2009 at 11:59 AM #

    I’ve got my Wolfpack t-shirt, sweatshirt and hat on. I hung the NC State flag outside. I’ve got my bottle opener that plays the Wolfpack fight song whenever you open a beer at the ready. I’ve done all I can. Come on guys, it’s up to you!

  16. Rochester 01/10/2009 at 12:08 PM #

    On the plus side, we’re playing nice defense. Of course, we are taking some strange and bad shots and missing almost all of them. How McCauley missed that layup I don’t know. 2-2 at the first TV timeout.

  17. Rochester 01/10/2009 at 12:19 PM #

    Looks like we’re running our “couldn’t hit water if you fell out of a friggin’ boat offense. 1-for-1,000 on our shooting so far. Fortunately still playing good defense. Down 6-2 at the 11:00 mark. If we were shooting even 30 percent we’d be up.

  18. Rochester 01/10/2009 at 12:22 PM #

    Give Javi an assist on that Booker dunk and get him out of the game, please.

  19. Dr. BadgerPack 01/10/2009 at 12:22 PM #

    You simply can’t waste time under the basket with the basketball when a guy like Booker is under there… Get it, put it up.

  20. Rochester 01/10/2009 at 12:31 PM #

    Who did we practice beating the press against, the tennis team? That’s the difference in the game right now. We’ve given them several easy baskets on bend-over turnovers.

    Fergie doesn’t have his shooting stroke back. No surprise there.

  21. Rochester 01/10/2009 at 12:37 PM #

    For as awful as we’ve played offensively, we’re right in this. Our starting five is really playing solid defense.

  22. packbackr04 01/10/2009 at 12:40 PM #

    costner is whipped. tkae him out

    why is javi playing and not Mays?

  23. packbackr04 01/10/2009 at 12:41 PM #

    clemson sucks too. carolina would be beating us by 37 right now

  24. Dr. BadgerPack 01/10/2009 at 12:44 PM #

    I was cautiously optimistic when Clemson picked up 6 fouls by the 9 minute mark… Unfortunately, they stopped fouling after that.

  25. Rochester 01/10/2009 at 12:48 PM #

    We have a lot of unforced turnovers. Bad enough we crap the bed against the press, but we’ve just plain thrown the ball out of bounds 4 or 5 times. And someone needs to take a note that Trevor Booker is in the shot-blocking mood and factor that in. Tracy Smith looks a bit slow getting his shots up and they’re all getting knocked away.

    There are some positives here, mainly we’re lucky to still be in this. But we are playing pretty solid defense. Our offense is beyond pathetic, however.

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