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Three and a half weeks ago, the Clemson Tigers made headlines by upsetting a ranked Florida State home team. On Saturday, the Seminoles returned the favor and then some, clubbing the shocked Tigers in an 80-61 beating that wasn’t as close as the final score suggests. The FSU’s 21st consecutive victory against ACC opponents in Tuck brings the Noles 9-2 on the season and 5-1 in conference.
The Seminoles returned the ball on their first possession and quickly fell 2-0 behind. However, the defense increased several notches soon after and Clemson was simply unable to keep up.
Speaking of not running, this game has become a nationally televised example of why the college baseline needs to be addressed. Whether it’s more training, full-time jobs, or layoffs, they just have to do a better job. There is no other way around it. Calling fouls that impact the game. The NBA is fantastic about it, so we know it can be done. When a man has his arm hacked while pulling or his legs are cut off underneath him in the air, report the offense. When there’s a long 50/50 bounce and two guys bump into each other, let him play.
The last of those examples resulted in a quick whistle blast on Saturday which resulted in Clemson being punished with a canceled transition opportunity and the home side being punished with RaiQuan Gray committing his second foul three. minutes after the start of the match. Both teams suffered because the stripes were not good for their job.
With Gray on the bench and Anthony Polite missing his second straight game with a shoulder injury, one might have feared the Seminoles could struggle. Quite the opposite has happened. A three-point sandwich from MJ Walker and Scottie Barnes went 15-7 after 6 minutes of play.
Malik Osborne pushed the lead to double digits with a nice turnaround jumper. He then brought the roaring crowd to his feet with an over the edge return to the sender during a dunk attempt by Hunter Tyson. A three Sardaar Calhoun corner took the score to 22-7, capping an 18-3 set for the Seminoles.
The next few minutes featured choppy play at both ends, largely created by inconsistent shots and referees who seemed to vacillate between basketball being a non-contact sport and hockey. As of 5.30am, the FSU lead remained 15 points, 31-16.
A pair of free throws from Clemson reduced their deficit to 13, but Rayquan Evans came in stealing for an offensive rebound and landed in one movement to bring it down to 15. Two more Tiger gifts reduced him further to 13, but another offensive rebound put in place, this time by Balsa Koprivica, made it 35-20 in the Under-4 timeout.
FSU forced an aerial ball out of the time-out, then quickly extended his margin to 18 on Calhoun’s second corner pocket with three balls of the game. More free throws for Clemson brought the Tigers down to under 16, but three more – this one with damage – from Calhoun extended the lead to 20 points.
It looked like it would be the margin at half time, but the refereeing team decided to whistle FSU for their 12th foul on a run for a 50/50 rebound as the buzzer sounded. The Tigers had their 13th and 14th shots from the charity strip, Barnes’ three-quarter lift just ended and the Noles took a 42-24 advantage in the locker room.
Aside from the free throws, where the Tigers outscored the Seminoles 16-3 in the opening stanza, Florida State dominated the opening 20 minutes in virtually every aspect. In fact, Calhoun scored as many points in the first half (10) as all Clemson players combined have scored on the field. Despite surrendering 18.7% of his possessions in the first half – almost all deadball turnovers – FSU scored 1.27 points per possession, shot 7-17 from deep (including the long throw from Barnes), caught 44% of his misses, and kept Clemson on 16.7% shooting from the field. Keep in mind that all of this came as FSU played without Gray and Anthony Polite (injured) for most of the time.
The second half started at the end of the first – three fouls called in the first 55 seconds. Gray clearly didn’t care about being forced to sit for 17 minutes and the big guy came out on fire. His basic tomahawk jam was 48-24 and forced Brad Brownell to take an early timeout.
The waiting period did not have the desired effect. Brownell’s team continued to shoot worse than a city slicker on a dude ranch, Florida State continued to tear the nets off the deep rim, and the umpires continued to whistle. Calhoun, Gray, Koprivica, Walker, Tanor Ngom and Nate Jack all contributed to a 15-2 run. At the under 12 timeout the scoreboard was showing 66-31, good guys.
From there, the game was a scrum. Points were scored, fouls were called and turnovers were plentiful – both forced and unforced. The lead reached 38 before Hamilton canceled the dogs. The biggest drawback for FSU fans was that Walker looked quite giddy as he was helped off the field following an inadvertent blow to the head while boxing. His status will certainly deserve to be watched, especially if Polite remains in street clothes.
Calhoun and Koprivica led a balanced attack, with both players contributing 13 points. Koprivica added 10 rebounds (3 offensives) and 2 blocks for his first double-double as a Seminole. Calhoun arrived in just 17 minutes as the JUCO transfer showed his death blow from depth, going 4-5 of three. Gray and Walker also doubled the numbers for Florida State, with the former scoring 11 points on 4-5 in just 11 minutes of action.
For the game, FSU shot 12-28 from deep and caught almost 40% of his misses. Defensively, Clemson was unable to do anything other than make free throws (22-26) and 21 of their 61 points came in the 5:54 final after the Seminoles emptied their bench.
The FSU is now turning its attention to a rival in the state, as the Miami Hurricanes visit Tallahassee on Wednesday.
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