McDanields got his first start for the Tigers and had his best overall game with 14 points, five rebounds, five blocks and two assists.  Andre Young also led the Tigers with 14 points.

The Tigers struggled from three only hitting 2-17.  Clemson finished the night shooting 38 percent from the field.

Clemson struggled early only scoring three points in the first seven minutes of the game as Virginia Tech ran out to a 12-3 lead.  Erick Green hit two free throws for the Hokies with 10:54 remaining in the half to make the score 23-7.

With 2:23 remaining Virginia Tech had their largest lead of the game at 36-19.  At the half the Tigers trailed 42-38.

The Tigers finally got within ten when Bernard Sullivan made a three point play with 4:05 remaining to cut the lead to nine.

K.J. McDaniels score six points in the final two minutes including two jams.

Clemson got with the ball with 24 seconds remaining only down two.  K.J. McDaniels drove the ball to the rim with three seconds remaining and was fouled.  McDaniels missed the first free throw.  On the second the K.J. missed on purpose and the ball was tipped out to Tanner Smith who tried a fadeaway jumper from the baseline as time ran out.

With the loss Clemson fell to 11-11 on the season and 3-5 in the ACC.

GAME SETUP
Site:    Cassell Coliseum (9,847)
Date:    Saturday, February 4, 2012
City:    Blacksburg, VA
Time:    4:00 PM
Radio:    Clemson Tiger Sports Properties (Pete Yanity – play-by-play, Tim Bourret – color)
TV:    Regional Sports Network (Mike Hogewood – play-by-play, Cory Alexander – color)
Web:    ESPN3

SERIES NOTES
Overall:       Virginia Tech leads 12-11
at Clemson:    Clemson leads 6-5
at Littlejohn:    Clemson leads 6-2
at Virginia Tech:    Virginia Tech leads 7-5
at Neutral:    None played
First Meeting:    Virginia Tech, 27-13, in 1924-25
Last  Meeting:    Clemson, 69-60, in 2010-11
Streak:    Clemson won the last meeting

QUICK FACTS
•    Clemson and Virginia Tech meet for the 24th time on the hardwood Saturday, with the Hokies holding a 12-11 lead in what has been an extremely competitive series.  Clemson won the most recent game on the Tigers’ Senior Day last season, but the Hokies won the two games prior to that.
•    Clemson enters Saturday’s tilt with an 11-10 record.  Eight of Clemson’s losses have come by seven points or less, including all four against ACC foes.
•    Both teams have been on the losing end of several close games this season.  In their combined 20 losses, 12 have been by margins of five points or less.
•    Virginia Tech lost on Thursday night to a top-10 Duke team, 75-60, at Cassell Coliseum.  The Hokies enter with one ACC win, which came at Virginia on Jan. 22.
•    Tanner Smith and Andre Young combined to play 67 minutes at Virginia without a turnover.  Young is second and Smith is sixth in the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio this season.
•    The Tigers committed just four turnovers at Virginia on Tuesday, the program’s low figure under Brad Brownell and second fewest in school history.
•    Devin Booker has scored 16 points in back-to-back games, the most points he has scored in consecutive ACC contests in his career.  He is shooting 50 percent from the field and 75 percent at the free throw line in ACC play.
•    Reserve center Catalin Baciu is shooting 64 percent from the field through seven conference games.
•    Smith was named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team on Thursday, making him the only three-time honoree in Clemson men’s basketball history.
•    Smith is shooting 43.8 percent from three-point range in conference games, by far the best figure on the team and one of the top percentages in the ACC.
•    Young is on pace to finish his career with more steals than turnovers, a rare accomplishment in Clemson history.  Only Sean Tyson and K.C. Rivers have done it prior to Young.
•    Sharone Wright has been named Clemson’s legend representative for the 2012 ACC Tournament at Philips Arena in Atlanta.  Wright is still sixth in ACC history in career blocks and was named to the Tigers’ all-time team last fall as part of the 100th anniversary celebration.

“It’s another road game, going to be another tough one at Virginia Tech,” Young said. “It’s tough to get a road win in the ACC but you’ve got to keep scratching and clawing and eventually get one.”

Although the Tigers’ are coming off a loss to #16 Virginia, it was one of their best offensive performances of the season, giving them a boost of confidence, however the Hokies are coming off of a 75-60 loss against Duke at home, which may make stealing the road win a little more difficult for the Tigers’ on Saturday.

“I don’t know how they’ll react after the Duke game but it’s going to be a tough game regardless,” Young said. “Virginia Tech is a hostile environment, every year that I play there it’s a tough game and the crowd is always into it. There just a tough team to play.”

Young believes that he and his teammates handled the situation of losing starter Milton Jennings due to suspension pretty well, as several guys stepped their game up due to Jennings’ absence.

“Guys were ready to step up and a lot of guys played well,” Young said. “We just came up a little short against a good Virginia team.”

After making a few errors on defense against Virginia, allowing them to score easy points in transition, how has defense become more of an emphasis for the Tigers’ going into Saturday’s match up?

“Defense is always an emphasis,” Young said. “It’s something we take pride in and we’re going to take a look at the scouting report from Virginia Tech and build off of our defense and principles.”

In all of Clemson’s ACC losses this season, they’ve competed heavily and have never been out of the game, how hard is it especially for a senior like Young to not get frustrated.

“Basically we have to realize that we are getting better,” Young said. “I thought we played pretty well against Virginia at Virginia, but just basically looking at the film and realizing that we’re getting better. If we can just improve on a few little things we can still win some games.”

With the loss of Jennings, Young believes that the freshmen have all stepped up and taken on larger roles on the team because they needed to.

“I think at this point of the season they know that they’re not freshmen anymore,” Young said. “They have some experience and we’ve seen them do things well throughout the year, we know they can do it, they know they can do it, it’s just a matter of doing it in a game. They realize that the opportunities are presented to them and they’re ready to take them.”

Young has been impressed with Virginia Tech’s guards, calling them the catalyst for their team.

“They’re the leading scorers and it’s going to be tough to stop those guys,” Young said. “They’re talented players but our team is looking forward to the challenge.”

Clemson will hop on a plane and fly directly to Miami, where they’ll take on the No. 7/7 Hurricanes (19-3, 8-1 ACC) at 2:00 pm on Sunday.

“We played well against Virginia,” Brownell said in press conference on Friday. “Certainly the efficiency was much better, only had four turnovers throughout the game so our guys are doing a good job of taking care of the ball. We got some guys in double figures, the only one that we needed to get into double figures but didn’t get there was Andre (Young), but Tanner had a nice game, Devin played well, and Bobo gave us some good minutes off the bench. I thought our freshmen played solid but we just needed Andre to have a better game offensively and defensively we made a few mistakes that cost us some transition points.” 

All of Clemson’s four ACC losses have been by 7 points or fewer, what has Brownell told his team to keep their level of frustration from rising? 

“I think it speaks again to the character of our team and the way we’re playing from the standpoint of you look at a lot of teams getting blown out every once in a while and our team hasn’t been that way,” Brownell said. “We’ve been in every game and have competed, gave ourselves chances to win, haven’t made a couple plays in certain situations to win the games so it becomes a little frustrating because you feel like you’re playing well enough in some instances to get a win and we don’t. But we knew coming into the season that our margin for error was very small with this team, we don’t have enough offensive firepower to be able to make up for defensive mistakes, and when a guy like Andre has a tough scoring night it makes it harder for us to win games. We have to play pretty darn well and efficiently to win most games at this level.” 

Junior forward Devin Booker has really started to come on for the Tigers’ as of late and will have to continue to do so with the suspension of fellow big man Milton Jennings earlier last week, what has Booker been doing differently that has led to his success? 

“The other night I think he did a good job of finding ways to go back outside,” Brownell said. “We knew that against Virginia it would be hard to score inside because they double the post so much, thought Devin did a great job of reacting to find open spots. He did a better job last year than he’s done this year, it’s been a little surprising to me that he hasn’t been as confident this year away from the basket, I thought last year he played more away from the basket because of Jerai, but I’ve talked to him about it and he was able to make two big threes against Virginia.”

As the Tigers’ travel to Blacksburg today, they know that they will be going up against a very hungry team in Virginia Tech, one that like the Tigers’ is trying to get on a roll in order to secure a post-season spot. 

“I think we’ll face a team that’s really hungry, I don’t think they played as well against Duke last night as they have been playing,” Brownell said. “I’m sure they’re having a very spirited practice today and are going to be excited to have the opportunity to play somebody right away like this, we’re going to get a good shot from them. Virginia Tech is a team that has surprised me a bit, they’re good enough to go to Virginia and win but then they’ve lost some games that I’m sure has Seth (Greenberg) a little upset. That speaks again to how the league is very close.” 

As for the guard play at Virginia Tech, Brownell has been very impressed. 

“I think Erick Green is just a terrific player, I think he can get his own shot, he’s tall about 6 foot 3 and shoots the ball over his head. He can make threes; put it on the ground and score, good defender. They put the ball in his hands a lot and it’s not hard for him to get 16 points. Hudson, he’s a different kind of player, he’s a guy they post up in their offense around the basket, which could be problematic for us, and we may have to double the post to keep him from scoring. The other thing he can do is make threes, he’s older and confident, he’s going to be able to make some plays for him.” 

As for the suspension of Milton Jennings due to a failure to comply with academic standards, Jennings will not make the trip to Blacksburg with his teammates. 

“He’s not practicing this week I set some guidelines up that I want him to meet and if he can take care of those things and gets himself where I feel he’s in a good place, we’ll talk about bringing him back. It’s part of college basketball and if you’re about doing things the right way and holding your kids accountable you’ll have this situations. I think there are a lot of coaches who wouldn’t discipline kids for some of the things that have happened, but I believe that you have to sit kids down and make them understand that it’s a privilege to be a part of the program and if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do then there’ll be consequences.”

The announcement was made following the annual ACC Winter Meetings and will go in effect once Pittsburgh and Syracuse become playing members in the conference.

“We have been engaged in discussions on the various options for integrating Pitt and Syracuse since early fall,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “It’s a tremendous tribute to the leadership at our schools that we will be able to seamlessly add Pitt and Syracuse at the appropriate time when they become full playing members.”

A breakdown of the future scheduling models include:

Football:
The Atlantic and Coastal divisions will remain the same with Syracuse joining the Atlantic and Pitt joining the Coastal. The current primary crossover partners will remain consistent with Syracuse and Pitt becoming primary crossover partners with each other.

When Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC, the league will play a nine-game conference schedule. The format will consist of each team playing all six in its division each year, plus its primary crossover partner each year and two rotating opponents from the opposite division. This six-year cycle allows each team to play each divisional opponent and its primary crossover partner six times (three home and three away) while also playing each rotating crossover opponent two times (one home and one away).

Men’s and Women’s Basketball:
As previously announced, the ACC will play an 18-game conference schedule beginning in 2012-13.

When Pitt and Syracuse join, each school will have one primary partner (Boston College and Syracuse; Clemson and Georgia Tech; Duke and North Carolina; Florida State and Miami; Maryland and Pitt; NC State and Wake Forest; Virginia and Virginia Tech).

The scheduling model will be based on a three-year cycle during which teams will play every league opponent at least once with the primary partners playing home and away annually while the other 12 rotate in groups of four: one year both home and away; one year at home only; and one year away only.  Over the course of the three-year cycle primary partners play a total of six times and all other conference opponents play four times.

The format allows each program to see opponents with more regularity and creates an increase in competitive balance throughout the teams.

It was determined that all 14 league members will continue to compete in the ACC Men’s and Women’s Tournaments and a decision on the Tournament formats will be announced at a later date.
Olympic Sports:
All team sports will continue to play each conference team at least once during the regular season. Baseball is the only exception as they currently don’t play all conference opponents.

The league will continue to sponsor an ACC Championship event in all sports. The only exception will be volleyball, which will continue to recognize its champion from regular-season play.

The conference will sponsor an ACC Championship in the sport of gymnastics. There are currently three institutions that sponsor gymnastics (Maryland, North Carolina and NC State) and with the addition of Pitt, the ACC will have four programs, the necessary number in the league’s bylaws to host a conference championship. The ACC previously sponsored a conference championship in gymnastics in 1984.

This past week has been a calm before the storm for the Rally Cats in a sense.  We had Wednesday night off, and were able to focus on technique and just dancing during Monday and Thursday’s practice.  This is always a nice treat for us, as normally we are cleaning a halftime or another routine.  There is no home basketball game until Tuesday, which will give us one of a very limited number of free weekends during the semester. 

While it has been nice to have a little bit of a break, next week we’ll be right back at our full schedules.  In addition to practice Monday and the game Tuesday, we will begin preparing for one of my favorite dances of the year … the Valentine’s Day halftime.  I assure anyone who has not seen one; it’s not something you want to miss.  Each of us chooses one lucky guy to be our partner, and we teach them some moves to perform with us at halftime.  It is always such a blast, and everyone gets a good laugh out of it. 

In addition to preparing for one of our more time consuming halftimes, next weekend marks the beginning of the Rally Cats busiest time of year.  While basketball and football seasons are coming to an end, the Rally Cats are beginning their nationals’ routine.  For the entirety of next weekend they will be learning choreography, and from then on out it’s practice, practice, practice.  I know everyone is extremely excited to see what the choreographer has come up with!

That being said, we as a team are responsible for raising funds to get us to Daytona, FL.  This is done through t-shirt sales, donations, and putting on college prep clinics.  College prep clinics are open to all high school or current college students interested in trying out for any collegiate dance team.  Information can be found on www.clemsontigers.com under the spirit squad webpage.  For donations and t-shirt order forms the link is http://www.clemsontigers.com/sports/c-cheer/spec-rel/021011aaa.html.  Any donation or t-shirt purchase is greatly appreciated!! Hope to see a packed out coliseum Tuesday, Go Tigers!

Clemson and UAB:

• The Tigers have never faced UAB
• The last Conference USA team Clemson faced was Southern Miss in the 2010 Auburn Regional (Clemson defeated the Golden Eagles 10-1)
• Clemson’s last regional versus a current Conference USA member was in 2008 at Central Florida (the Tigers swept the three-game series by scores of 9-1, 7-3, and 8-5) 

Clemson and Maine:

• The Tigers last faced Maine in 2003
• Thirteen of the 14 games in the series have been played at Clemson
• Clemson has won all 14 games in the series; outscoring the Black Bears by an average of 6.4 runs per game 

Clemson and South Carolina:

• The teams will meet in Charleston for the first time ever in 2012
• However, this will be the eighth different city in South Carolina that the teams have faced each other (the other seven are: Anderson, Clemson, Columbia, Greenville, Orangeburg, Spartanburg, and Sumter)
• The Tigers trail 6-7 all-time in neutral site contests, and have lost the last six games at neutral sites (last win was in Greenville in 1990) 

Clemson and Holy Cross:

• The Tigers have faced Holy Cross only once previously
• That meeting came in Omaha at the College World Series in 1958 (the Crusaders defeated the Tigers 17-4)
• Clemson has faced a Patriot League member only three times in its history; Holy Cross in 1958, a 17-4 win over Navy in Tallahassee, FL in 1963, and an 8-4 win over Navy in the opening round of the 1995 Clemson Regional 

Clemson and North Carolina:

• The Tigers and North Carolina have met on the diamond ever year but one (2007) since 1951
• The Tar Heels have won the past two series at Clemson after the Tigers had won the previous eight
• North Carolina is one of two ACC teams that Clemson has faced in Omaha at the College World Series while both teams were members of the conference (Georgia Tech – twice – is the other program) 

Clemson and Western Carolina:

• The scheduled meeting at Western Carolina will mark the 25th all-time meeting between the programs in Cullowhee
• This season will mark the 15th time in Coach Leggett’s 18 seasons at Clemson that the two teams have played at least two games against each other
• Leggett has been involved in 57 of the 67 contests the two schools have played

 Clemson and Boston College:

• The Tigers will face Boston College for the seventh straight season after not facing the Eagles in the previous 108 years of the program
• The two teams have played a doubleheader in the series four times in six years, including all three times that the teams have met in Chestnut Hill
• Last year marked the first time in the series that a team (Clemson) has swept all three games in the series 

Clemson and Elon:

• This will be the 11th straight season that the Tigers and Elon have played, and the 12th time in the past 13 seasons
• This season also includes a first in series history, as the two teams are scheduled to meet away from Clemson for the first time in the 19-game history of the series (March 21st at Fluor Field in Greenville)
• The Phoenix have made five NCAA appearances since joining Division I in 1999, with all five regional’s held at ACC venues (twice at Clemson, once at North Carolina, and twice at Georgia Tech 

Clemson and Virgina:

• The Tigers have not won a series at Virginia since 2002
• Clemson is 1-8 in their last nine contests in Charlottesville after going 7-2 in their previous nine
• Since 2004, Virginia leads the series between the two teams 17-4 after Clemson held a 98-27 lead through the first 125 games in the series 

Clemson and Georgia:

• The Tigers and Bulldogs are scheduled to play a home-and-home series for the 14th straight season
• The two teams have met every season since 1959
• Georgia is Clemson’s second-most played opponent in program history with 220 previous meeting (Clemson has played South Carolina 295 times) 

Clemson and Presbyterian College:

• The Tigers face the Blue Hose for the fifth straight year after a 57 year break in the series
• Last season’s Presbyterian College win at Fluor Field was their first in the series since 1949 

Clemson and Miami (FL):

• The Tigers last faced the Hurricanes during the 2009 season
• Clemson is 9-6 at home versus Miami (FL), including 6-3 since the Hurricanes joined the ACC
• Clemson also leads the series 11-7 since the teams joined the ACC 

Clemson and Winthrop

• The Tigers last faced Winthrop in 2007
• The Eagles have won two of the last three meetings in the series
• The game will mark the return of former Tiger assistant coach Tom Riginios, former player Ben Hall, and former player Wilson Boyd to Clemson 

Clemson and Duke:

• The Tigers and Duke have faced each other at least three times a season every year since 1990
• The teams will meet at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park this season (where Duke plays the majority of it’s home games)
• Clemson is 9-11 at DBAP (1-2 versus Duke and 8-9 in the ACC Tournament)

Clemson and Furman:

• The Tigers and Furman have met every season since 1983
• This is the fifth straight year that the teams are scheduled to play one contest at Clemson and another at Fluor Field
• The Tigers have only made two appearances at Furman since Leggett became the head coach

Clemson and NC State:

• The Tigers and NC State have met every season since 1953, the longest consecutive streak by Clemson against an ACC opponent
• The two teams have met four times in three of the past four seasons, and have met four times in 10 of Leggett’s 18 seasons at Clemson
• Clemson has won 12 of the last 13 contests between the two programs at Clemson while Leggett is 21-5 at home against the Wolfpack

Clemson and Charleston Southern:

• The Tigers are 15-0 all-time against Charleston Southern
• Clemson also holds a 12-0 advantage at Doug Kingsmore Stadium
• The Buccaneers only NCAA Regional appearance came in 1996 at Clemson (lost 9-1 to Clemson and 4-1 to Tennessee)

Clemson and Maryland:

• The Tigers and Maryland have played at least one game every season since 1954
• Jack Leggett is 47-9 as Clemson’s head coach against the Terps
• The 47 wins are the most wins over any one opponent during Leggett’s time in Tigertown

Clemson and Coastal Carolina:

• The Tigers and Coastal Carolina have met at Clemson for at least one game at Clemson every year but one since 1995 (2006)
• The last two regular-season meetings between the teams have both went to extra innings, Coastal Carolina won 4-3 in 11 innings in 2010 and the Tigers won 5-4 in 10 innings last season
• The two teams have met in an NCAA regional three times in the past five seasons, with Clemson winning all three games while scoring 10+ runs each time

Clemson and Georgia Tech:

• The Tigers and Georgia Tech have played every year but one (1973) since 1955, including seven contests during the 2006 season
• The 206 all-time meetings are the most ever for Clemson against a current ACC opponent
• In Leggett’s 18 seasons, the teams have met 69 times (tied with Florida State for most meetings against any opponent) while playing 17 times in the postseason (15 games in ACC Tournament and 2 meetings in the College World Series)

Clemson and College of Charleston:

• The Tigers and College of Charleston have not met since the 2009 season
• This season’s scheduled three-game series will be the first ever between the schools
• Clemson’s 21-0 record against the Cougars is the most wins against any one opponent without a loss

Clemson and Tennessee Tech:

• The Tigers and Tennessee Tech last met in the 2009 Clemson Regional
• That regional is the only regional appearance in Purple Eagle history
• Clemson is 10-0 versus current Ohio Valley Conference members, with the last four meetings against Tennessee Tech (twice in 2009 and twice in 2003)

Clemson and Florida State:

• The Tigers and Florida State have played at least three times every season since 1992, including 12 seasons of four or more meetings
• Clemson and the Seminoles are the only two teams to win the Atlantic Division since the ACC split into divisions in 2006
• The last three series at Clemson have all been sweeps (Clemson swept in 2006, Florida State swept in 2008, and Clemson swept in 2010)

Clemson and Wake Forest:

• The Tigers and Wake Forest have met every season since 1954
• Last season’s Demon Deacon win at Clemson stopped a 12-game winning streak by the Tigers at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in the series
• Wake Forest has won the past two series (2008 and 2010) in Winston-Salem after Clemson had won the previous four; in fact, the Tigers have won 15 of the 18 series against the Deacons under Leggett (also lost in 1999 at Wake Forest)

“I wasn’t able to make it.  We had an emergency pop up.  I will get up there soon,” said Barber.

Which schools are showing the most interest in the Georgia standout?

“Clemson definitely is.  Louisville is also and a number of other schools,” replied Barber.

The Tigers were one of the first to offer

“Clemson, Central Florida and Louisville have offered,” said Barber.

Several visits are in the plans including a trip to Tigertown.

“I plan on going to Alabama and Clemson.  I also plan to go to Vanderbilt,” said Barber.

Coach Elliott is recruiting Peyton for the Tigers.

“Coach Elliott is my recruiter.  I like him a lot.  He is one of my favorite coaches,” said Barber.

The decision timing is not clear right now for the prize recruit.

“I really don’t have a timeline yet.  When I feel comfortable with a school I will be ready,” said Barber.

Which team did the top running back pull for growing up?

“I was kind of indecisive.  I was a Gator fan, a Dawg fan, a Clemson fan and an Auburn fan,” replied Barber.

“Coach Scott and coach Venables came by to see me.  It was my first time meeting coach Venables.  It was good to get to see him.  He is real down to earth,” said Washington.

The offer list is growing quickly for one of the nation’s top defensive back prospects.

“I have 17 offers now,” said Washington.

Clemson is one of the early favorites for the Florida standout.

“Right now it is Florida, Florida State, Auburn, Alabama, Clemson and South Carolina,” said Washington.

Coach Scott has built a strong relationship with Nick over the past year.

“He is great.  I talk with coach Scott all the time,” said Washington.

Nick wasn’t able to visit Clemson for Junior Day but plans to visit soon.

“I wouldn’t make it then.  I will get up there soon,” said Washington.