Short handed Seminoles handle Clemson

The #11 Florida State Seminoles (14-1, 2-0 ACC) defeated the Clemson Tigers (10-5, 0-2 ACC) 69-47 in Clemson tonight.

Clemson’s record of 10-5 doesn’t look too bad but appearances can be deceiving. They have played the 293rd hardest schedule in the nation according to Sagarin. Their best win is a pretty good one; a 67-66 victory at Nebraska (#78 RPI). The problem is that their next best win is over (#150 RPI) Louisiana Tech. They are coming off a 66-33 drubbing in Atlanta against Georgia Tech.

Clemson is not bad defensively but they are awful on offense and they are an atrocious three point shooting team (24%). They are also bad at rebounding. Junior Danielle Edwards leads them in scoring and she is a quality point guard. Their most talented player is 6’2 sophomore forward Kobi Thornton (8.7pts, 7.1reb) who leads the team in rebounds. However, this team simply is not near FSU’s level talent-wise.

Florida State came into the game short-handed as starting guard Imani Wright stayed in Tallahassee battling an illness. Nicole Ekhomu started in place of Wright. This left the Noles with only eight available players. However, this didn’t affect FSU early as the Seminoles started the game on a 10-2 run. The Tigers battled back and closed the gap to 16-10 at the end of the first quarter.

Clemson’s offensive woes really showed up in the second quarter. The Tigers went nearly six minutes of game time without scoring and only had six points in the quarter. FSU wasn’t super productive themselves but they were able to stretch the lead to 31-16 at the half.

The Noles were able to keep their double-digit lead for the rest of the game as the Tigers never really threatened and FSU came away with the 69-47 win.

Nausia Woolfolk led FSU with 18 points but it was Savannah Wilkinson who had her best game as a Nole. The freshman from London had 14 points on 4-5 shooting from deep. Wilkinson only had one triple all year before this game.

Florida State played nowhere near their best game tonight - this is the fewest points they have scored all season - but the reality is that they didn’t need to against an over-matched opponent. The Seminoles will travel to central New York on Sunday to take on Syracuse (10-3, 1-2 ACC). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Florida at 1pm. The Orange earned their first ACC win tonight by beating Georgia Tech 86-77 in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse runs their record to 8-0 at home. Sagarin has FSU as 14 point favorites.