Clemson Hoops Falls to FSU at Home

The Clemson Tigers lost their third game in a row, falling to No. 16 Florida State 77-64 at Littlejohn Tuesday night.

The loss all but eliminates the Tigers from serious postseason contention, barring a conference tournament win.

Clemson was able to jump out to an early lead over the Seminoles, but it was short lived. The Tigers trailed by the under-16 timeout, but the team remained resilient. Mfiondu Kabengele’s strong interior play helped push FSU into the lead and when Clemson rallied later in the first half, he helped them hold off the Tigers run.

After Marcquise Reed cut the deficit to two points with 6:20 to play in the half, Kabengele made three shots as part of a 15-2 run to close the period. Reed finished with a game-high 20 points on 7/16 from the field.

Coming out of the break down 15 points, Clemson was never able to make a second-half push to get back into the game. They cut it to a three-possession game on multiple occasions but the Seminoles never truly gave up control.

Poor bench production hurt Clemson throughout the night. Kabengele put up 19 points, 11 boards and two blocks off the bench for FSU - all more than Clemson’s entire bench combined.

After losing two heartbreakers the Tigers seemingly ran out of gas against the Seminoles. Postseason hopes were on bleak after the loss to Louisville but this is pretty much the nail in the coffin. All they can do now is close the regular season strong these next two games.