A Happy Valentine’s Day and perhaps an NCAA Tournament berth for Florida State may rest on what it does at home on Wednesday night. After dropping consecutive contests to fall below .500 in ACC play, the Seminoles will return home to take on No. 11 Clemson.
FSU swept the season series a year ago and thrashed the Tigers in Tallahassee by a score of 109-61. Dwayne Bacon scored 29 points to pace the Seminoles in the win. The last victory for Clemson at the Donald L. Tucker Center came during the 2014-15 season.
The Match-Up
Who: No. 11 Clemson Tigers (20-4, 9-3 ACC) at Florida State Seminoles (17-8, 6-7 ACC)
When: Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. EST (ACC Network)
Where: Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Florida
Key Players
For Clemson: With Donte Grantham out, Marcquise Reed has carried the Clemson offense with a team-high 15.4 points per game average to go with 4.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per contest. Gabe DeVoe, a senior guard, averages 13.5 points and 4.6 rebounds. Junior guard Shelton Mitchell scores 12 points per game. Junior forward Elijah Thomas scores better than 10 points per game while shooting 56 percent to go with a team-high 7.5 rebounds.
For Florida State: Terance Mann scores 14.5 points per game to go with 5.9 rebounds and a field goal rate of 58 percent. Seniors Braian Angola and Phil Cofer each score better than 13 points per game. Angola leads the team with 1.5 steals per game and ranks second at 3.2 assists per game.
What to Watch For
3-point shooting: In conference play, no one has shot better from beyond the 3-point arc than Clemson. The Tigers are making more than 39 percent of their attempts from distance in their 12 ACC games. For FSU, the 3-point shot has been very telling as to whether it wins or loses and to some extent, so has defending it. In ACC wins this season, FSU is shooting nearly 40 percent from deep. In losses, that number falls to 31 percent. The Seminoles did get sharpshooter P.J. Savoy back from injury in Saturday’s loss at Notre Dame.
Terance Mann: Leading scorer Terance Mann has been slumping of late for Florida State. After an outstanding and efficient start to the season, Mann has averaged just four points on 3-for-11 shooting over his last two games. In ACC games where Mann scores 10 points or fewer, the Seminoles are 0-5. Mann averaged just eight points, but was a combined 6-for-8 from the field in two wins over Clemson last season.
Gabe DeVoe: While FSU’s Terance Mann has been cold of late, senior guard Gabe DeVoe has been anything but for the Tigers in recent weeks. Over his last four games — all wins — DeVoe is averaging 22.8 points while shooting 61 percent from the field and an ungodly 22 of 34 or 65 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. DeVoe averaged just two points on a combined 2-for-9 shooting in last season’s two losses to FSU.
Foul shooting: Wednesday night’s contest will feature the second-best free throw shooting team in the ACC and the second-worst free throw shooting team in the ACC. The Tigers are the former at better than 75 percent while the Seminoles are the latter at 69 percent. The Seminoles are not only missing, but they’re missing down the stretch of contests when it counts. Seven of FSU’s 13 ACC games have decided by six points or less or in overtime. In what will be a huge game on Wednesday night, the Seminoles must convert the free ones.
Number to Pay Attention To
18-15: That’s Florida State’s record against Clemson under head coach Leonard Hamilton. 16 of those 34 match-ups have been decided by six points or less. The Seminoles have won three straight in the series and are 10-5 at home against the Tigers under Hamilton.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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