Tigers use defense to bludgeon No.22 FSU, 62-44

Brownell's opening thoughts on FSU win

Tigers win 62-44

CLEMSON — It wasn’t so much a basketball game as a bludgeoning.

Saturday afternoon, Clemson hammered away at No.22 Florida State. They poked. Prodded. Defended mercilessly.

They were rewarded with their biggest win of Brad Brownell’s young tenure. Clemson held the Seminoles to 32.7 percent shooting, forced 22 turnovers and came away with a 62-44 rout before an announced crowd of 10,000 at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Clemson improved to 15-6, 4-3 in ACC play; the Seminoles, who entered the day a half-game out of first in the ACC, fell to 15-6, 5-2. It was the Tigers’ fewest points allowed to an ACC foe since a 51-42 win over N.C. State on Jan. 18, 1997.

“Like coach said in the huddle, this was what we were supposed to do,” Clemson point guard Demontez Stitt said. “We weren’t surprised. Maybe a lot of people around the country were surprised, but we knew we could beat these guys. We knew we had the right pieces; it was a matter of guys guarding, coming out hustling and being ready to play.”

The Tigers avenged Dec. 12’s 75-69 loss in Tallahassee, and FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said the Tigers have “really improved,” especially on the offensive end of the floor.

“They have better awareness of each other on the floor,” Hamilton said. “Their ball reversal, the ball doesn’t stick, they get it out of there, post up in a much smoother way. That’s what motion offense will do for you. It gives you a chance to chase teams, in help-recover situations and close out correctly.”

Since the FSU defeat, the Tigers are 10-2. Brownell said his team has bought into his system, and it shows.

“I told the guys Day 1 that we can be a good team, that we have enough pieces to be successful this year,” he said. “Some things need to go right for us, we needed to improve, be together, stay healthy, buy into each other.

“We don’t have a big margin for error and need to play at a high level, come together. We have enough pieces for us to be good. How good? I don’t know, but we can be successful and better than people think.”

Clemson slogged its way to a 27-18 halftime lead despite going the final 12:31 without a field goal.

The Tigers were white-hot early from the field, nailing their first three 3-pointers (two from Devin Booker) and shooting 66 percent.

Booker’s thunderous tomahawk jam sent the sellout crowd into a frenzy, and Clemson looked ready to run the Seminoles right out of the building; the Tigers led 20-6.

“Clemson knocked us back on our heels right at the beginning of the game with execution,” Hamilton said. “They hit most of their shots and got off to a good start. They were a lot more physical than we were, more aggressive.”

From there, Clemson didn’t have a made field goal the rest of the way, scoring seven points on free throws. The Tigers led by as much as 22-6, but FSU closed within single digits at the half by forcing 15 straight missed shots.

Brownell’s message at halftime: stay consistent.

“I didn’t want them to be down,” he said. “…I reminded them we were up nine and doing all the things necessary to win the game. Make a shot later, and things will happen. You understand why we have the lead. Now put together another good 20 minutes.”

Stitt agreed.

“Coach told us to just stay confident,” he said. “Shots will start falling again. Just continue to guard them.”

They did so, right away. Stitt got a steal and fast-break layup, and followed by nailing a 3-pointer for a 32-18 lead. Florida State never got back within 10 points.

“We never seemed to get back to the level of confidence we had in the first half,” Hamilton said.

The Tigers led 56-31 with 3:40 left before Brownell cleared the bench and let the ‘Noles make the game somewhat respectable.

“We knew if we got our offense going, it would be a blowout,” said forward Jerai Grant, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, including two monster dunks. “We knew we’d hold them to a certain amount of points defensively.”

That, Stitt said, was the mindset: play great defense, and the rest would fall into place.

“We felt we had something to prove,” he said. “We went down to Florida State and we let one get away from us. We felt like we could beat them. Whenever a team is confident enough, you feel like you can beat the other team. Go out there, guard with confidence and things will go your way.”

Saturday marked the Tigers’ second straight win after two straight road defeats. Now comes the fun part: winning away from Littlejohn’s cozy confines.

The Tigers are 1-4 on the road, but they’ll get two more shots in the next seven days – at Virginia Wednesday and at Georgia Tech Saturday.

“We haven’t gone on the road and won a game in the ACC,” Brownell said. “We’ve done what we need to do. We had a good home week, but we’re a long way from being significant. We’ve got to do a lot more than this.”