Playing from behind isn’t how this Florida State men’s basketball team is built, especially on the road.
But that’s just the situation the Seminoles put themselves in Saturday night in Clemson. A sloppy first half in a few areas put FSU in a 10-point halftime hole in a hostile atmosphere against the Tigers.
The Seminoles showed some resolve in the second half, batting back from a deficit that was as large as 16 points to make it as little as five points. However, the hole proved too big and FSU (14-13, 8-8) suffered its fourth loss in the last five games, 74-63, to the Tigers (19-8, 9-7) in a critical game in the ACC standings.
The Seminoles trailed for nearly 17 minutes of the first half as they struggled to avoid mistakes. FSU committed four turnovers in the opening 2.5 minutes and nine turnovers in the first half to go along with 10 fouls committed and a suboptimal 32.9% shooting percentage.
Despite all that, FSU trailed by just four points late in the first half. However, the Seminoles managed just two points over the final 3:48 of the half and Clemson ended the half on an 8-2 run to take a 38-28 halftime lead.
After missing the last three halves due to coach’s decision, Primo Spears made up for lost time in his return to action Saturday night. He led all scorers with 10 first-half points, accounting for over a third of the Seminoles’ points over the opening 20 minutes and half of their six free-throw attempts and makes.
Spears finished with 16 points to go along with three steals. Jamir Watkins picked up where Spears left off in the second half. Watkins had eight-plus points in each half of Saturday’s game, finishing with 18 points for his 13th straight game with double-digit points, just shy of his fifth straight game with 20-plus points.
Even when FSU’s turnover problems lessened dramatically over the final 20 minutes — the Seminoles had just three second-half turnovers — the damage of the deficit created in the first half was too much to overcome. FSU cut the Clemson lead to as little as five points in the waning minutes of the second half, but was never able to catch all the way up.
Much of this was because of the Seminoles’ struggle once again to find success from three-point range. Even with sharpshooter Darin Green Jr. back in the starting lineup after he missed Tuesday’s win over Boston College, the Seminoles were 4 of 19 (21.1%) from outside the arc. Green missed each of his four three-point attempts.
Clemson wasn’t much more efficient from three, shooting 27.3%. However, Clemson guard Joe Girard III was more effective from the perimeter, making 4 of his 11 threes to amass his game-high 24 points.
FSU returns home next for a midweek matchup against NC State (17-10, 9-7) Tuesday at 9 p.m.
