Clemson's losing streak goes to five games after late shot doesn't fall at FSU

It was another tough loss in Tallahassee. (Photo: Melina Myers / USATODAY)

by TigerNet Staff - Tue Feb 15 21:41:03 GMT-04:00 2022

One streak ended and a couple continued Tuesday night in Tallahassee, Florida, unfortunately for Brad Brownell’s Tigers.

Florida State (14-11, 7-8) snapped a six-game losing streak by rallying from down four at the half to top Clemson, 81-80.

Clemson (12-14, 4-11) has lost five in a row now and hasn’t won in Tallahassee since the 2014-15 season.

After trailing by as much as nine points in the second half, the Tigers crawled back into things, with Alex Hemenway free throws tying things up at 70 with just over five minutes left. After an FSU bucket, PJ Hall got Clemson back within a point and reached the 20-point mark on a dunk.

Hall came up big again on a layup to give Clemson a 2-point lead going into the final two minutes. He then went to the free throw line twice in a row to extend and then keep a Tigers’ lead at four points with a minute to go.

After Seminoles’ free throws brought them back within two, FSU guard RayQuan Evans tied it up on a jumper and was fouled, knocking down the free throw to take an 81-80 lead with 14 seconds left. Clemson called a timeout with four seconds left after driving down the court, and after each side called another timeout, the Seminoles crashed down on Hall out of the inbounds and he passed it out to Hemenway for a 3-pointer that went off the mark.

“He (Hall) had the option. Get him the ball, and depending on how they guarded him, obviously we brought Alex in that if they helped off the strongside to get a wide-open shot, which is what happened," Brownell said of the last play. "We had David (Collins) kinda out as a safety valve and he was cutting to the basket behind so if somehow they fell asleep he could have faced that way and Chase (Hunter) was to move to the space and kinda read the play. We got the ball to our best player and they kinda doubled him and he found a wide open man and it’s another shot that was short. If you watch it on film and Alex is running and he thinks he made it – you can tell.

"It looked good, but obviously it didn’t go in.”

The loss clinched a losing conference record for the second time in three seasons. The Tigers have had a winning ACC record just twice since the 2016-17 campaign, with the last one coming in last season’s NCAA Tournament-bid season and fifth-place league finish.

“We did (play hard),” Brownell said. "I hate the way it ended. I’m really disappointed with the fact that they didn’t make baskets at all to beat us. That’s hard for my kids to follow. That really is disappointing. Man, they battled. We had 14 offensive rebounds. Fought our tails off. We made some defensive errors.

"We weren’t as good as we needed to be and give them credit for making some plays, but I thought our guys fought. We had 36 free throws and we attacked the basket. PJ was great inside.

"Yeah, this hurts.”

Clemson started 1-for-15 from beyond the arc, but a pair of 3-point makes in a row gave Clemson its biggest advantage of the first half, up 36-29, with 2:20 to go.

Hall dunked on Clemson’s final possession of the half to reach 14 points, which extended his run of double-digit scoring efforts to 25 in a row. Hall finished with 28 points.

Clemson led 40-36 at the break shooting 37.1% from the field but knocking down 11-of-13 free throws.

The Seminoles quickly erased the deficit and went up by six points at just under nine minutes into the second frame as Clemson’s shooting woes continued. Cam’Ron Fletcher’s hoop-and-harm conversion with nine minutes to go extended FSU’s advantage to nine points.

In all, the teams combined for 66 free throw attempts (Clemson going 30-of-36; FSU going 25-of-30).

Clemson returns to action on Saturday at Louisville at 3 p.m. (RSN).

.@pjhall020 ????#ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/tjurR7CyNd
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) February 16, 2022

AND ONE!!!! ???? @pjhall020 #ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/Re06bGgkgX
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) February 16, 2022

Stepback 3?????? @AlDawes33 #ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/pWJDxRjyfA
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) February 16, 2022

.@NextUp440 ????#ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/d2EmrxRo7J
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) February 16, 2022

.@pjhall020 ????#ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/OvUJYGaszb
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) February 16, 2022

The ?????????????? ???????????? takes flight!!! ????@HemenwayAlex #ClemsonGRIT pic.twitter.com/WeTzDIB712
— Clemson Basketball (@ClemsonMBB) February 16, 2022