100-YEAR CELEBRATION Clemson’s Greatest Moments A chronological history of significant dates in the first 100 years of Tiger Basketball February 28, 1990: Clemson defeated Duke 97-93 for its 10th conference win of the season. The victory clinched at least a tie for the ACC title and the Clemson fans stormed the court while the Tigers cut down the nets. The following Sunday, North Carolina gained victory at Duke to give Clemson the outright league title, its first ACC regular season championship in history. It was the final home game for Clemson career scoring leader Elden Campbell. March 17, 1990: Clemson advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament after defeating La Salle, who had won 22 straight entering the contest, by a score of 79-75. The Tigers erased a 16-point halftime deficit, the largest halftime deficit overcome to gain victory in Clemson history. March 22, 1990: Clemson fell just short of advancing to the Elite Eight after Tate George hit a turnaround jumper at the buzzer to give UConn a 71-70 victory. Clemson had overcome a 19-point deficit to take a 70-69 lead. December 12, 1992: Sharone Wright became the first Tiger basketball player since Tree Rollins to record a triple-double. He accomplished the feat against non-conference foe UNCGreensboro when he had 21 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocked shots. January 26, 1993: Sharone Wright again recorded a tripledouble. The sophomore had 12 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocks against Maryland. It was the first triple-double against an ACC team in 16 years for the Tigers and the first in a televised game. Wright finished second in Clemson history in career blocks and was the Tigers’ highest-ever draft pick at No. 6 in 1994. January 4, 1995: Rick Barnes, now the head coach at Texas, quickly generated enthusiasm in the basketball program his first season by upsetting No. 9 Duke 75-70 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. It was Clemson’s first win in Cameron since the 1983-84 season.
January 3, 1996: Clemson won its third straight game over Duke, topping the Blue Devils 51-48 at home. Like the year before, the win improved Clemson’s undefeated record to 10-0. March 8, 1996: Clemson knocked North Carolina out of the ACC Tournament with a 75-73 victory, its first ever in the tournament versus the Tar Heels. Greg Buckner took a pass from Harold Jamison and dunked the ball over Antawn Jamison with just 0.6 seconds remaining. Buckner’s dunk remains one of the Tigers’ most famous plays in history. The win was the first by Clemson over North Carolina in the Tar Heel state since 1967. November 15, 1996: Clemson shocked the college basketball world with a thrilling 79-71 upset over defending national champion and third-ranked Kentucky. The upset still stands as the highest-ranked non-conference victory in Clemson history. January 7, 1997: Clemson, ranked No. 5 in the AP poll at the time, defeated No. 10 Duke 86-82 in overtime. The meeting was the first ever between two schools ranked in the top 10 at Littlejohn Coliseum. The Tigers trailed by six with 54 seconds remaining, but sent it to overtime and Greg Buckner sealed the victory with a steal in subsequent dunk. January 23, 1997: Clemson played Wake Forest in the first meeting between two top 5 schools in Littlejohn Coliseum history. The Tigers were ranked No. 2 by the AP, still its highest ranking ever obtained. A capacity crowd watched as Tim Duncan and Wake Forest held on for a 65-62 victory. March 16, 1997: Clemson shut down All-American Shea Seals and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to advance to its first Sweet 16 appearance since the 1989-1990 season. March 20, 1997: Clemson battled No. 1 seed Minnesota into double overtime, before falling 90-84. Tony Christie hit a driving layup at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime for the Tigers. The Tigers ended the year ranked No. 8 in the final USA Today poll, its highest in history. March 23, 1999: Clemson downed Xavier 79-76 to advance to its first NIT Championship game. January 15, 2000: Will Solomon set a Littlejohn Coliseum record with 43 points in a win over Virginia, the most points ever scored by a Clemson player in the arena’s history. September 9, 2000: Dale Davis became the charter men’s basketball member in Clemson’s Ring of Honor. Davis was the first player in ACC history to lead the league in rebounding and field goal percentage in consecutive years, and was a first-round pick in the 1991 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers. February 18, 2001: Clemson shocked the college basketball world again as it defeated No. 1 North Carolina 75-65 in Littlejohn Coliseum. It was only the second time Clemson had ever defeated the top-ranked team in college basketball. Will Solomon led the Tigers with 25 points and Tony Stockman clinched the victory with a pull-up three-pointer in the last minute. February 13, 2002: Clemson outlasted Wake Forest in a thrilling, double-overtime 118-115 victory. Edward Scott paced the Tigers with 30 points and 16 assists, just the second time a player had scored at least 30 points and dealt out 15 assists in an ACC game.
Horace Grant
January 31, 2004: Clemson made 11-13 three-point goals, a Clemson record and the sixth-best three-point shooting percentage game in NCAA history in an 81-72 victory over 12th-ranked North Carolina at Littlejohn Coliseum. Shawan Robinson scored a career-high 24 points and made 5-6 threepoint shots.
December 4, 2004: Clemson won 63-62 on a three-pointer by Cheyenne Moore in the final seconds of overtime at South Carolina. March 1, 2005: Olu Babalola and Sharrod Ford scored five points in the final 10 seconds on senior night and Ford delivered the game-winning slam at the buzzer as Clemson defeated Virginia Tech, 66-64. March 10, 2005: Clemson completed the season sweep of Maryland in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. The Tigers won 84-72 and also swept the Terrapins in the regular season. It marked Clemson’s first three-game sweep over another ACC school since the Tigers defeated N.C. State in 1993-94. December 21, 2005: Clemson won the San Juan Shootout title with a 66-59 win over Akron. The win gave Clemson its first eight-team tournament title in 25 years. January 6, 2007: Clemson improved to 2-0 in ACC play and 16-0 overall after back-to-back last second wins at Florida State and home versus Georgia Tech. Cliff Hammonds made a high-arching layup with under three seconds left in Tallahassee, then James Mays hit a left-handed driving layup to give the Tigers the last second win over the Yellow Jackets. The Tigers matched a school record with a 17-0 start after defeating NC State three days later. March 21, 2007: Clemson got a 29-point effort from K.C. Rivers and downed Big East power Syracuse 74-70 on national television in the quarterfinals of the NIT. March 27, 2007: The Tigers matched a school record with 25 wins after defeating Air Force 68-67 in the semifinals of the NIT at New York in famed venue Madison Square Garden. It marked the second time in school history that Clemson advanced to the championship game of the NIT. March 2, 2008: Clemson rallied from a 20-point deficit to pull out a 73-70 win over Maryland in College Park. It was the largest second half deficit overcome by Clemson. Terrence Oglesby hit the game-winning three-pointer with 2.3 seconds left. March 15, 2008: Clemson upset second-seeded and No. 7 ranked Duke in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, earning the program’s second-ever berth in the championship game and first since 1962. It was the school’s 24th win of the season, giving the Tiger program a record 49 wins in backto-back years. February 4, 2009: Clemson upset No. 3 Duke by a score of 74-47. It was the largest margin of victory ever for Clemson against a ranked opponent. It also was Duke’s largest margin of defeat since the 1990 championship game. November 29, 2009: Clemson knocked off eventual NCAA runner-up Butler 70-69 in the 76 Classic in Anaheim, CA. Demontez Stitt hit a pair of go-ahead free throws in the final seconds, while Trevor Booker blocked a three-point attempt at the buzzer. January 23, 2010: Clemson played host to ESPN College GameDay for the first time in the history of the popular weekly series. Over 4,000 fans were in attendance for the show, which preceded the Tigers’ game against Duke later that night. January 25, 2011: First-year Head Coach Brad Brownell led the Tigers to a thrilling come-from-behind 60-50 victory over NC State after trailing by 19 points (31-12) in the opening half of play. March 15, 2011: Clemson defeated UAB, 70-52, in the “First Four” round of the NCAA Tournament in Dayton, OH. It was Clemson’s first tournament win in 14 years and Brownell’s first in four tries as well. 19