After back-to-back dramatic victories over Wake Forest and Miami, Florida State will look to notch a third straight win, get to .500 in ACC play and complete the season sweep over Clemson as the teams meet at the Donald L. Tucker Center on Wednesday night.
Florida State held off Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum on January 19th by a 59-55 score. Xavier Rathan-Mayes led Florida State with 17 points and 9 assists and should again be a tough cover for the Tigers, who come in with 5-4 record in ACC play and an overall mark of 13-8.
Rathan-Mayes was quiet in Florida State’s thrilling 55-54 win over Miami on Sunday as was his backcourt partner, Devon Bookert, who was held scoreless against the Hurricanes. On the season however, the two are combining for 24 points-per-game with Rathan-Mayes leading the way with nearly 14 per contest. Rathan-Mayes also tops the Seminoles with 4.6 assists-per-game which ranks sixth in the ACC.
Senior Rod Hall will be the guy charged with getting Clemson into its offense. Hall averages just shy of four assists-per-game and finished with 12 points when Clemson hosted Florida State just a couple weeks ago. Junior guard Jordan Roper has come on of late for Clemson, averaging 21 points over his last two games including a season-high 24 in Saturday’s victory over Boston College.
Clemson has six players that average at least six points-per-game, but forward Jaron Blossomgame is the only Clemson player averaging in double-figures scoring with nearly 14 per game. Blossomgame also leads the Tigers in rebounding with more than eight per game.
Physical play, defense and getting the ball inside is how Clemson has won games this season and the front line of Blossomgame, Donte Grantham and Landry Nnoko should test an interior for Florida State that has struggled this year.
Senior center Kiel Turpin however, is coming off a solid effort for FSU in which he scored 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting, including the game-winner with under 1:40 to play to top Miami. Freshman Phil Cofer, who averages over seven points and about five rebounds, has been the Seminoles’ most consistent player inside.
The most consistent and efficient player for the Seminoles, who come in 12-10 and 4-5 in conference play, this season has been 6’7″ junior Montay Brandon. Brandon led all scorers with 18 points and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field in Sunday’s win over Miami. Brandon is averaging nearly 13 points on 56 percent shooting while grabbing a team-high 5.5 rebounds-per-game.
Florida State will look to complete its second season sweep of Clemson in three years. The Tigers however, did win in their last trip to Tallahassee, beating the ‘Noles 53-49 last season. K.J. McDaniels finished with 26 points and 7 rebounds to pace Clemson while Aaron Thomas was the only Seminole to score in double-figures with 13 points.
Wednesday’s contest is slated to tip off after 9:00 P.M. eastern time. It will be broadcast on the Raycom Sports Network.
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