The Daily Nole

Preview: FSU Returns Home to Face Clemson

Phil Kelly/FSU athletics

After three straight roads games, Florida State will return home to Tallahassee for a Super Sunday matinee with the Clemson Tigers. The Seminoles are 14-0 at home this season, but coming off an impressive 75-57 road victory over Miami on Wednesday. Sunday’s contest will be the first of two meetings between FSU and Clemson this season. The teams will meet again in less than three weeks.

Clemson arrives in the state capital of Florida sitting squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Tigers have won two straight with wins over Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech. The teams split a pair of meetings last season with each squad winning at home. FSU won the meeting in Tallahassee last season by a 76-65 score, thanks to stifling defense and a game-high 21 points from Dwayne Bacon. With a victory, Florida State would equal last season’s totals for overall and ACC wins.

The Match-Up

Who: Clemson Tigers (13-8, 3-6 ACC) at No. 15 Florida State Seminoles (19-4, 7-3 ACC)
When: Sunday, Feb. 5 at 12:30 p.m. EST (ESPNU)
Where: Donald L. Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee, Florida

Key Players

For Clemson: Senior forward Jaron Blossomgame has had an outstanding year for Clemson, averaging 18 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest. Avyr Holmes is averaging 11. 4 points and shooting 42 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Senior Sidy Djitte leads the team, averaging 7.5 rebounds to go with 6.1 points.

For Florida State: Dwayne Bacon, a sophomore guard, is FSU’s leading scorer for a second straight season, averaging 17.2 points. Freshman forward Jonathan Isaac is scoring 13.3 points to go with team-highs of eight rebounds and 1.6 blocks. Xavier Rathan-Mayes averages 10.5 points and a team-best 4.6 assists per game.

What to Watch For

Jonathan Isaac: The FSU forward has been outstanding over his last six games and incredibly efficient. Isaac scored 15 points in Wednesday’s win over Miami and should make Jaron Blossomgame work on the defensive end. Isaac is FSU’s leading rebounder and shot-blocker and from the field, is shooting 60 percent over his last five games and 5-for-11 from deep.

Rebounding: When Florida State is playing well, it rebounds the basketball well. In six of FSU’s seven ACC victories, the Seminoles won the rebounding battle. In each of its three ACC losses, FSU was on the short end. FSU is loaded with size headlined by the front court trio of Michael Ojo, a 7-1 senior, 7-4 sophomore Christ Koumadje and 6-9 senior Jarquez Smith. Clemson doesn’t have nearly the productive size that FSU does as the Tigers rank dead last in the ACC in rebounding margin. The battle on the glass Sunday could be one that FSU could dominate.

Jaron Blossomgame: Clemson’s leading scorer, Jaron Blossomgame is in the midst of a career-year. Blossomgame is averaging 18 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor. In nine ACC games, Blossomgame has scored at least 20 points on six occasions. For Clemson to have a chance to pull off the road upset, the talented senior will need to be at his best.

Turnovers: If there is one way that Clemson keeps itself in a given basketball game, it is by not beating itself. The Tigers lead the ACC in turnover margin and a big reason for that is head coach Brad Brownell’s ball-hawking defense. The Tigers have four different players who average at least a steal per game, led by Gabe DeVoe who averages 1.4 per game. Being able to turn the Seminoles over and get easy baskets on the other end could be one way for Clemson to pull the upset in Tallahassee.

Number to Pay Attention To

33.3: That’s the field goal percentage the Seminoles held Clemson to in last season’s meeting at the Tucker Center. Stifling defense on Sunday should allow FSU to improve to 15-0 at home this season.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson

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