By Will Vandervort

It depends on who you talk to, but Trevor Booker will say he can beat his brother in a game of one-on-one and Devin Booker will say the same.

“I can’t let my younger brother beat me,” Trevor said. “I’m not going to let that happen.”

The Booker brothers have been playing basketball since they were kids, playing on a goal right down the street from their home in Whitmire, SC. Sometimes they played with each other and other times they played against each other.

“All of that has paid off,” Devin said.

The brothers’ competitive drive and their eagerness to be better than the other has led them to where they are now, Trevor is the NBA playing for the Washington Wizards, while Devin will be capping his Clemson career in the coming weeks.

Trevor was the original “Book” at Clemson, garnering that nickname from former Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell. Devin assumed the nickname when his brother left for the NBA following the 2009-‘10 basketball season.

The “Book” will be closed at Clemson tonight as the Tigers honor Devin and fellow senior Milton Jennings as part of Senior Night at Littlejohn Coliseum against Boston College.

The Booker brothers currently have scored 2,840 points at Clemson the last seven years, the fourth best brother scoring combination in ACC history. In fact, they are one of only five brothers in the history of the ACC to at least score 1,000 points each in their careers.

Trevor tallied 1,725 points from 2006-2010, while Devin currently has 1,113 points since his freshmen year in 2009.

“As you can see, we have made a name here at Clemson, and we just try to do what we can to make Clemson proud,” Devin said.

Over the last seven years, at least one Booker has been in the Tigers’ starting lineup for 224 of the 227 games played during that time. As the season winds down, that stretch will soon come to an end. Tonight’s Boston College game will not only be the final home game for Devin, but for the entire Booker family. His mom and father have attended every home game since Trevor’s freshman season in 2006.

“My mom talked about that on the phone the other day,” Devin said. “She said she is definitely going to be shedding tears in the stands. It is going to be hard for her not to come and watch us playing Clemson basketball anymore.

“It is just one of those things you have to move on with.”

It’s going to be hard, not only for the Booker family, but for Clemson, too. Not only has Trevor and Devin been great scorers for the Tigers, but they have done a lot of other things as well. Only 12 players in Clemson history have accumulated more than 1,000 points and 700 rebounds and the Booker brothers are two of them.

Devin says he does not mind being compared to his brother at Clemson. He understands that comes with being a Booker, but he admits he never really thought about that when he decided to come to Clemson out of Union County High School.

“I actually did not figure that out until I got here,” he said laughing. “That’s when it really hit me. Before then, I knew Clemson was where I wanted to be. It was close to home, it’s a great atmosphere here and in the ACC I knew that was going to get me better because there are some tough individuals to play against.

“But, when I first got here, that’s when all the questions started hitting me about my brother.”

The Tigers have 144 wins with a Booker in the lineup, that’s 20.6 wins per year. Clemson has an 83-24 record at home during the last seven seasons, a .776 winning percentage. They have helped the Tigers win 57 ACC games the most in a seven-year span in Clemson history.

If Devin can get nine rebounds tonight against Boston College, he will join his brother in the school’s top 10-list for career rebounding.

“He had his time here at Clemson with his four years and I have had my time here with my four years,” Devin said. “He put in the work and did all he could and I’ve done the same thing.”

Like his brother did his final year at Clemson, Devin is carrying the Clemson team as tries to help his team end the season the best possible way they can. Over the last three games, the senior has played like the All-ACC candidate that he is.

“Devin has a chance to be an All-ACC performer,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “I think he has played consistently at a very high level this year. He certainly has done, as I like to term it, the heavy lifting. He has done a lot of the things you need done in basketball.

“Some of that does not show in the statistics. He has been a fixture in our low post for a long time and he has certainly played very well this year.”

Devin has scored 16 or more points in three straight games – a first in his career. He has made 19 of his last 31 field goal attempts during this stretch.

“I guess I’m trying to be more of leader and trying to help my team to do great things on the court,” he said. “Someone needed to step up, and I have tried to take on that role. We have not had much success, but I’m just trying to do what I can.”

Devin will try to help the Tigers end a four-game losing streak tonight, while at the same time try to make his last appearance at Littlejohn Coliseum a memorable one.

“I guess it really has not hit me yet that this is my last game here,” he said. “Right now I’m just ready to play like it is just any other game. I will give it all I have on the court and we will see what happens.

“I know it is going to be an emotional day, not just for me, but for my family also. I have had some great experiences here, playing with the older guys that already left and great experiences with these younger guys that I’m with now.”

And just think, it all started many years ago playing on an old asphalt court down the road from his Whitmire home with his older brother.

“Playing against him all this time has just made me better,” Devin said. “Him being (an NBA) player makes me want to work harder to get to the level that he is at right now.”