The Clemson men’s basketball team (18-7, 10-4 ACC) will go up against the Florida State Seminoles (8-18, 6-9 ACC) at Littlejohn Coliseum on Wednesday.
The Tigers are looking to have a repeat performance of the one in late January against the Seminoles, where some late-Chase Hunter heroics led to Clemson pulling out a last-second 82-81 victory in Tallahassee, Florida, which was also the Tigers’ last victory.
Since then, Clemson has lost three straight games, most recently in a disappointing loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels last Saturday. These losses have knocked the Tigers out of the Associated Press Top 25, the top spot in the ACC and, potentially, a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“We are not going to overreact,” head coach Brad Brownell said after Saturday’s loss. “We’ve played a lot of good basketball. Very few teams don’t have a bad week. We’ve had a little bit of a bad week.”
Unlike the last game against the Seminoles, Clemson will have everybody back from injury after guards Brevin Galloway and Alex Hemenway missed the previous matchup with a groin injury and plantar fasciitis, respectively. Brownell is still looking to see the two shooters return to form.
“Being out, I don’t know if they come back quite as sharp,” Brownell said. “But we have to go back and stick with it.”
Wednesday’s matchup could prove to be historical for the Tigers, as with a win, it would mark the most in-conference wins in school history.
Brownell will also look to get forward Hunter Tyson back into the game offensively. Although he leads the team in points per game, the fifth-year forward was only able to put 3 points on the board for the Tigers against North Carolina. With a 27-point performance against the Seminoles a few weeks ago, Tyson will look to get hot again.
As for the Seminoles, since that loss to the Tigers, they have struggled, going 1-3 since Jan. 28 with losses to N.C. State, Syracuse and Pittsburgh.
Florida State will look to rely on Matthew Cleveland, who leads the Seminoles in scoring with 14 points per game, to provide a majority of the scoring. Cleveland led Florida State in scoring the last time against the Tigers, adding 18 points in the close loss.
Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. EST, and the game will be broadcasted on ACCNX.
