This Saturday, the Tigers will travel to Tallahassee, Florida, to take on the Florida State Seminoles in an attempt to gain a much-needed ACC victory.
Despite their excellent start to the season, the Tigers (12-5) currently stand ninth in the ACC with a 2-4 conference record. After recent losses to Miami, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, it is imperative that Clemson gets back on track quickly — starting on Saturday.
The Tigers have a tall task in front of them as they will compete in Florida State’s house, where the Seminoles (11-6, 5-1 ACC) are 7-3 thanks to the home-court advantage.
The Seminoles’ leading scorer is junior Jamir Watkins, who is averaging 13.1 points. Comparatively, Clemson holds the offensive advantage thanks to lead scorer PJ Hall, who is second in the conference with 20.1 points per game. As a team, the Seminoles average 77.1 points per game and are also coming off of a huge road win over Miami.
On the defensive side of the ball, the teams are remarkably similar: Florida State has allowed 73.2 points per game, while Clemson has allowed just .2 more at 73.4 points per contest.
Even with the recent loss to Georgia Tech, Hall is coming off one of the best performances of his career. Against the Yellow Jackets, Hall recorded a career-high 31 points and 17 rebounds. When asked about the importance of the game against Florida State, he said, “It’s just as important as the last. These guys, man, we want to win so bad, myself included.”
“Our coaches, our staff, our managers, our GAs, everyone is pouring everything they have into it,” Hall added.
Clemson forward Ian Schieffelin is also looking to stay hot this weekend. He had 20 points and 15 rebounds in the loss to Georgia Tech, though he had to be pulled off the court a few times because of cramps in his leg.
“It should be fine. He’s had some lower leg stuff, though, that’s been hard. We’re trying to watch some of his minutes as well at times, or not so much in games, but practices and stuff like that,” head coach Brad Brownell said of Schieffelin. “I don’t think it affected his play. The only thing it affected is there were a couple times I had to take him out when I probably didn’t want to.”
Winning on the road is never an easy task, and Clemson’s next two games will be away from Littlejohn Coliseum. With a matchup against No. 7 Duke looming around the corner, a win against Florida State would go a long way toward regaining the momentum that was present earlier in the season.
