Clemson opens NIT action with Wright State Tuesday

by CU Athletic Communications - Mon Mar 18 12:20:07 GMT-04:00 2019

Clemson men's basketball begins its postseason play with the opening round of the NIT on Tuesday in Littlejohn Coliseum.

The NIT 2-seed Tigers (19-13) host the Horizon League regular-season champion Wright State (21-13) for a 7:05 p.m. tip on ESPNU.

The game will feature a number of experimental rules, including the 3-point line being extended to FIBA international rules (22 feet, 1.75 inches), the free throw lane being widened to 16 feet (NBA rules), shot clock resets to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound and team fouls resetting at 10-minute mark of each half (one-and-one free throws eliminated).

Tickets will be general admission for all but the coliseum and courtside club areas and select seats behind the benches.

The winner will meet the winner between the 3-seed Furman and 6-seed Wichita State later this week at the home of the higher-seeded program.

Kevin Fitzgerald and Cory Alexander will be on the TV broadcast call.

Projected lineups

Clemson

Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. GP/GS PPG RPG APG MPG

G 2 Marcquise Reed 6-3 188 Gr. 29/28 19.3 5.7 3.1 35.2

G 4 Shelton Mitchell 6-4 200 Gr. 32/32 11.5 2.7 3.0 32.8

F 14 Elijah Thomas 6-9 245 Sr. 32/30 13.0 7.9 1.4 25.4

F 24 David Skara 6-8 213 Gr. 31/30 7.3 4.0 1.5 30.9

F 25 Aamir Simms 6-7 248 So. 32/32 8.3 4.6 0.9 26.8

Wright State

Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. GP/GS PPG RPG APG MPG

G 3 Mark Hughes 6-4 205 Sr. 34/34 9.2 4.2 2.9 30.4

G 4 Alan Vest 6-3 195 Fr. 34/25 5.1 4.0 0.9 23.4

G 31 Cole Gentry 5-10 178 Jr. 34/34 11.7 2.3 3.3 33.0

C 11 Loudon Love 6-9 275 So. 33/32 15.1 8.2 0.9 26.9

C 22 Parker Ernsthausen 6-11 235 Sr. 34/30 5.1 3.1 2.4 24.4

Clemson basketball notes

• Clemson will play in a postseason tournament for the third consecutive season when it hosts Wright State.

• Clemson is making its 17th appearance in the NIT. The program has an 18-16 record all-time in the event and advanced to the championship final twice previously (1999, 2007).

• Clemson is 12-4 in Littlejohn Coliseum in the NIT, having won 12-of-its-last-13 at home heading into Tuesday's contest.

• Clemson enters the NIT having won eight-of-its-last-13 games, including four-of-its-last-six.

• Clemson’s opponent is a familiar one for head coach Brad Brownell who coached the Raiders for four seasons (2006-10) prior to becoming the head coach at Clemson. He took them to one NCAA tournament and won at least 20 games each season he was there.

• Marcquise Reed is one of just two players in the country to average at least 19.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game this season. His 19.3 points per game average is the most since Will Solomon in 2000-01 (19.7) and third-most by a Clemson player since Horace Grant during his senior season (21.0 ppg) in 1986-87.

• Since 2016-17, Reed is just the ninth player to amass at least 1,400 points, 400 rebounds, 250 assists and 150 steals.

• Reed jumped into 14th on the all-time scoring list. Reed now has 1,442 points in his Clemson career. He could become the 19th active player to amass 2,000 career points in NCAA Division I (1,971).

• Aamir Simms was named to the 2018-19 All-ACC Academic Men’s Basketball Team on Friday, March 8.

• Marcquise Reed earned 2019 All-ACC Third Team honors, while Elijah Thomas was named 2019 All-ACC Honorable Mention and also landed on the 2019 All-ACC Defensive Team.