FSU Basketball Recap: ‘Noles Destroy Clemson in Return Home

FSU basketball demolishes the Clemson Tigers in their return to Tallahassee after three road games, getting their 20th win of the season.

Well, the effort and execution issues from last week appear to be gone. After opening the week with a big win against the rival Miami Hurricanes, FSU basketball returned to the TLCC for the first time in three games. What awaited them was a respectable Clemson Tigers team, ranked top-30 according to KenPom, who were coming off back-to-back wins. The Seminoles responded to the challenge in a big way. In the form of a 109 – 61 shellacking.

The game never really even felt that close, either. After the first 20 minutes of action, Clemson had more turnovers (14) than shots made (eight). The halftime lead for FSU was 51-25, and things got uglier from there. At one point, the Tigers faced an 85-44 deficit. It was simply utter domination by Florida State.

Interestingly enough, the lead just kept growing even despite quiet games from Jonathan Isaac and Xavier Rathan-Mayes. Isaac finished with just two points and Mayes with six. Dwayne Bacon though, finally got back on track. We’ll get to his performance in a bit. And the bench, or the boom squad as they like to be called, returned to form as well.

For the record, before this game, Joe Lunardi had Clemson pegged as 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament. This showing will probably take them down a notch, but regardless… scoring 109 points against a potential tournament team? And beating them by 48? Absolutely insane. What a performance.

FSU basketball (20-4, 8-3 ACC) finished with 17 three-pointers and shot 66 percent from the field.

Clemson finished with 22 turnovers and 21 field goals, while shooting 38 percent from the floor. Major credit to FSU’s defense.

Let’s hand out some hardware. I’m pretty sure everyone knows who’s getting player of the game.