LITTLEJOHN COLISEUM Did You Know? In 2009, Littlejohn Coliseum was voted the second-toughest home court venue in all of college basketball in a “Toughest Places to Play” contest sponsored by EA Sports.
Littlejohn Coliseum History • 1968-69 was a building era in college athletics. Littlejohn Coliseum was one of 11 major Division I schools to build a new basketball arena during those two years. Also building a new facility were Alabama, Auburn, Dayton, Houston, Miami, New Mexico State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Stanford and Utah. • Original cost was 3.1 million, but the 2003 renovation was 31 million, so just move the decimal. • Original construction took 22 months. • First game in facility was November 30, 1968, a 76-72 win over Georgia Tech. First made field goal a jumper by Dave Thomas (not the Wendy’s guy). Second game was against LSU and Pete Maravich. Clemson “held” Maravich to 38 points, six under his average that year, but LSU won 86-85. The 500th men’s basketball game in the facility was against Georgia Tech, in 2001. • Facility was reopened on January 5, 2003 when Clemson played host to Duke in a nationally televised game on Fox Sports Net. Clemson played eight games in The Civic Center of Anderson in November and December of 2002 while renovation was being finished. • Original capacity was 10,300, but got to as high as 11, 200. Largest crowd was 13,863, an 87-82 overtime victory over #1 ranked Duke, the first time in history Clemson defeated the #1 ranked team in basketball. Doubleheader that night so there were 9,000 people there for the women’s game with Duke. • Clemson’s men also defeated a #1 ranked North Carolina team 75-65 on Feb. 18, 2001, ending an 18-game winning streak for the Tar Heels. • The Tigers defeated #4 Duke by a score of 74-47 in 2009, the worst defeat for a Blue Devil team since 1990. • The facility played host to ESPN weekly show “College GameDay” in 2010, an event that drew over 4,000 fans.
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