ROCK HILL, SC—Fresh off a season-opening victory over Pfeiffer University Saturday afternoon, the Winthrop men's basketball team will head down the road to take on Clemson, Monday evening at 7 p.m. at Littlejohn Coliseum. The game will air live on Fox Sports South.
The Eagles will make their first visit to Littlejohn since Dec. 17, 2011 when they fell 60-40. Winthrop opened up the season with an 82-59 victory behind 11 three-pointers and attacking the offensive glass for 20 boards that led to 22 second-chance points.
Senior
Keon Moore led all scorers with 25 points as he drained seven of the 11 three-pointers for the Eagles. His seven threes are a career-high as he also snagged eight rebounds. It was his ninth 20-point game as an Eagle.
The game will mark the Eagles 39
th contest against an Atlantic Coast Conference member as they are 4-34 all-time. The last victory over an ACC team came on Nov. 22, 2010 as the Eagles defeated Wake Forest, 83-74. Winthrop is 1-9 all-time against the Tigers with the only win coming in Littlejohn as it escaped with a 66-61 victory in 2001.
Senior
Andre Smith was just 4-for-14 from the field in the season opener, but dished out a career-high eight assists and snatched a career-best five steals. Smith's previous high of seven assists came at Auburn on Dec. 22, 2012. Smith is coming off a career season in 2013-14 in which he drained 71 threes and averaged a career-high 10.1 points.
The Eagles went into the game against Pfeiffer undersized and shorthanded in the post with senior's
James Bourne and Larryw Brown out. However, junior
Tevin Prescott, sophomore
Jarad Scott and redshirt freshman
Duby Okeke were solid down low as they combined for 21 points, 18 rebounds, two assists, three blocks and a steal in 51 minutes.
Clemson opened the season at home with an 86-41 victory over Florida A&M as five players scored in double-figures. Landry Nnoko paced five players in double-figures with 15 points while Jordan Roper added 13. The Tigers only committed five turnovers in the game but forced 24 that they turned into 33 points while they also dominated the paint 40-18.
While the Eagles knocked down 11 threes on Saturday, Clemson's defense held Florida A&M without a basket behind the arc (0-for-7). Clemson shot 49 percent from the floor in the game while allowing Florida A&M to shoot just 33 percent.
Rod Hall didn't do much scoring with four points but he was dishing the ball everywhere as he finished with 10 and no turnovers in 21 minutes of action.
This game marks the start of two straight on the road and the beginning of four of the next six away from the Winthrop Coliseum.
