FSU basketball falls at No. 18 Clemson

In recent weeks Florida State hasn’t been able to consistently make 3s, and has gotten very little from it’s two best offensive players: Terance Mann and Braian Angola. Tonight, two of those three things changed, but it wasn’t enough. Clemson won 76-63, in a game that was a whole lot closer than the final score.

The game got off to what could have been a disastrous start, with Florida State coming out cold. Luckily, Clemson missed a number of 3s, and the score was just 8-2. Then the ‘Noles finally found their footing, going on a 17-4 run and hitting multiple shots from beyond the arc in the process.

From there, the game settled into a slug-fest, which benefited the home team. Neither team could find many open shots, but both teams did a great job of knocking down jumpers that were heavily contested.

It was tied 32-32 in the final seconds of the half, when Clemson drove and committed a travel that would have been called on Lebron James - but not tonight - then a dish and a ridiculously contested three to take a 35-32 lead.

In the 2nd half, Clemson kept pushing the lead, and FSU kept closing it back down. The ‘Noles made 9-23 3s, including 3-4 from Braian Angola.

But they couldn’t survive another game where they got very little from Terance Mann, who leads the team in scoring and rebounding. It was fine for 37 minutes, but in the closing stretch Florida State just didn’t have anyone to go to.

FSU went cold again, and Clemson built their lead by a steady march to the free throw line. The final was 76-63.

Phil Cofer had a tremendous game, scoring 21 and grabbing seven rebounds. Braian Angola had 11. Trent Forrest scored nine, and Ike Obiagu - coming off six blocks in the NC State game - had five more blocks tonight. Mann scored just three points on 1-9 shooting.

The ‘Noles fall to 19-10 (8-9), and now need to beat Boston College in the season finale for a realistic shot at the NCAA Tournament.