BUIES CREEK, N.C. — It’s quiet here in this small corner of North Carolina.
In truth, Buies Creek doesn’t boast much in the way of sightseeing. That is, of course, unless you count Chris Clemons, the 5-9 point-scoring machine for Campbell University who is not-so-quietly making NCAA history.
Clemons, the senior leader of the 12-9 Fighting Camels (5-2 in Big South play) has become one of the most exciting scorers to watch in college basketball this season. Not that that's anything new.
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Off the court, Clemons likes hanging out with family, fishing, playing Spades, drawing and playing video games: “just normal boy stuff,” in his words. On the court, he’s anything but, dropping nearly 29 points a game this season by slashing his way through the lane, making NBA-distance 3s or leaping over defenders for dunks.
Clemons leads all Division I players this season with 28.8 points per game and 604 total points on a .466 shooting percentage. And with 2,836 career points, he not only is the all-time leading scorer in Campbell and Big South history, but also the leading scorer among active Division I players (South Dakota State's Mike Daum is second, with 2,803). If he keeps up this pace, he's also on track to become a top-10 NCAA Division I scorer.
“I’m just going out there and playing every night the way I like to play the game,” Clemons told Sporting News. “I have a lot of freedom out there on the court to make plays for myself and for my teammates.”
If Clemons’ explanation of his points production seems deadpan, that’s because it is. In his opinion, there's a simple explanation: Even from the beginning, he was “just a kid that loved to play the game.”
As a senior at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, N.C., Clemons scored 699 points, averaging 24.1 points a game. He was dunking in high school with a reported 44-inch vertical leap (to put that into perspective, former Memphis guard D.J. Stephens set the NBA Combine record with a 46-inch running vertical leap in 2013). He still holds multiple Millbrook records, including most 3-pointers in a season, most points in a single season, most points in a game, and sits in second on the school’s all-time scoring list.
Despite that success, Clemons was overlooked by big-name schools early in the recruiting process because of his size. That opened the door for Campbell coach Kevin McGeehan to recruit him the summer before Clemons' senior year. The confidence McGeehan showed in Clemons showed during that process — plus the proximity of Campbell to his hometown of Raleigh — made it an easy decision.
“He brought the entire coaching staff to some of my games and you don’t really see that often," Clemons said. "That kind of tells you that he’s a guy that really believes in you and really wants you to succeed and really wants you at his school. That was huge for me and I’m sure he’ll pull out all the stops like that again for somebody else but for me that was big.”
That said, McGeehan understood early on the talent Clemons could bring to Campbell.
“I saw him literally three minutes and texted my assistant and said, ‘This is the guy,’” McGeehan told SN. “When I was recruiting him, I told him I thought he would be the all-time leading scorer in Campbell’s history.”
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With nine games left in the 2018-19 regular season, it’s hard to imagine Clemons not finishing his college career among the top scorers in college basketball history. It’s a sentiment McGeehan shares as well, and he would know better than most: He’s seen it done before, when he saw firsthand La Salle forward Lionel Simmons score his 3,000th career point against Manhattan in February 1990.
It’s a milestone he believes Clemons can reach as well.
“Three-thousand is a heck of a lot of points and it looks like he’s got a chance at it,” McGeehan said. “I’m not surprised by what he has done, only because I’ve seen not only how good he is but how much he has developed over time.”
Clemons’ ability to consistently create space for his teammates and put up double-digit scoring figures — a feat he's accomplished in 103 straight games, the NCAA’s longest active streak and fourth-longest in history — are among his biggest contributions to Campbell basketball. But he understands what he does off the court is just as important as the baskets he scores each game.
“These guys look up to me a little more than they do anybody else," Clemons said. "Just being a positive role model for these guys and showing them how to do things the right way and how they can be successful is probably my biggest contribution.”
That said, the ball does spend a lot of time in Clemons’ hands, and McGeehan realizes how easy it would be for this to become an issue with his players. But Clemons isn't just a high-volume scorer for Campbell. He puts his team's success above his own and makes sure teammates get the ball if that puts the team in a better position.
“I think that there is a sense of confidence that comes with playing with somebody that you know can just do it and do it at a high level,” McGeehan said. “I think that the other guys really trust him to make decisions and to make plays and to help us win.”
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Clemons, whom McGeehan characterized as “quiet,” has also become more vocal with his teammates, learning how to use his voice more effectively to help his team. That leadership was put on display on Jan. 10 when Campbell lost 90-86 at home against Winthrop. The way Clemons spoke afterward, it was as if he himself had lost the game.
“I didn’t think I made routine shots that I normally make,” he said after the game. “I feel like I pretty much lost that game for us.”
This, despite the fact he dropped 34 points and a career-high six assists. But to Clemons, it wasn’t good enough because his team didn’t win.
Luckily for him, he got another opportunity on Wednesday to put his leadership on display against Big South leader Radford. With Campbell down 67-65, Clemons took his team's final shot as the game clock expired.
The shot. The win.
— Campbell Basketball (@GoCamelsMBB) January 31, 2019
Chris Clemons does it again to give Campbell the win over league-leading Radford #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/D5sY3dypLe
Those are the kinds of plays that have helped Clemons appear occasionally on SportsCenter’s Top 10, including a blistering 42-point performance against Liberty in 2017-18 in which he and teammate Marcus Burk each made 10 3-point shots apiece.
For some, the national attention and accolades that come with highlight-reel plays would be a distraction. But not for Clemons.
“I always play the game the same way, the attention doesn’t really mean anything to me while I’m on the court,” he said. “I’m just trying to play the game as it goes.”
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Despite his success, he just wants to be “one of the guys" — even if he’s fiercely competitive in just about everything he does.
“I mean he’s not just competitive on the court, he likes to win at cards, fishing,” McGeehan said. “I don’t think there are many things that he does that he’s not thinking about trying to be better than me or whoever he’s with.”
If you ask Clemons, he’ll tell you that what you see is what you get.
“I’m a pretty laid-back guy," Clemons said. "I like to have fun, joke around with my teammates and whatnot but pretty much what you see on the court is how I am.”
As his senior season comes to a close, Clemons will look to prepare for the 2019 NBA Draft. This will be his third time going through the process, but there’s no coming back to Campbell after this season. That said, McGeehan has no doubt Clemons will get his crack at a professional career.
And why not? Clemons proved to be everything McGeehan thought he’d be, and more.
“He is going to put himself in a position to get there,” McGeehan said. “With his athleticism and his ability to score it’s just obviously been proven.”
Regardless of where Clemons ends up after his college career is over, one thing is certain: The legacy he left at Campbell for fans, teammates and coaches to remember won’t soon be forgotten.
“I think he’s always going to be connected to Campbell,” McGeehan said. “Chris. Clemons. Campbell. The three C’s. I think it’s always going to be. People are going to identify Campbell University and Chris Clemons for all time.”