So much for the fears of a road letdown. After back-to-back home wins over college basketball blue-bloods Duke and North Carolina, the Clemson basketball team went on the road Saturday and completely dismantled Florida State 72-46.
The Tigers moved to 21-5 overall and 13-2 in ACC play remaining right on the heels of the Blue Devils in the ACC regular-season race. Some had feared that playing in a half-empty arena (and that's being kind) against a Seminole team that entered the day just 15-9 overall and 6-7 in ACC action might cause the Tigers to let their guard down. However, this veteran team handled its business with ease on Saturday.
In the game's first ten minutes, the Tigers built a 24-9 advantage thanks to a stifling defensive effort. After that, the home team never really put a scare into the No. 23 team in the country.
Clemson led 36-19 at the break and cruised to the win in the second half. That's the type of road effort one should expect from a team with designs on making serious noise in the postseason.
Dillon Hunter led the way offensively with 17 points. Hitting 7 of his 11 field goal attempts, he set a season-high in points.
That came on a day when his brother, Chase Hunter, scored only four points. Clemson's leading scorer on the season was 0-7 from the floor and 0-5 from 3-point range scoring all of his points at the foul line. However, because of the Tiger's fantastic defense and the Seminoles' offensive ineptitude, Clemson didn't need much from its best guard on Saturday afternoon.
Florida State was held to just 34% shooting as a team (18-54). What's more, they made only 2 of their 15 attempts from 3-point range (13.3%). Also making their day long was the fact that they turned the ball over 14 times.
This was the first game in a stretch that will send the Tigers on the road for four of their next five contests. Fortunately, though, the only team with much hope for an NCAA Tournament bid that Clemson will face during that time is SMU, which is 19-5 overall and 10-3 in ACC play entering Saturday. The Tigers will be in Dallas to take on the Mustangs a week from today in their next contest.
After that, a home game with Notre Dame precedes road tilts at Virginia and Boston College before the regular season wraps up in Clemson with a game against Virginia Tech. If the Tigers want to win the conference's regular-season title, they will likely need to win out (and, of course, hope that Duke loses another game somewhere along the way).
Saturday was a great step in that direction for head coach Brad Brownell and his team. The Tigers made easy work of a mediocre team that has little to play for and that's the formula that Clemson will need to follow for most of the remainder of the regular season.