Clemson's brand of basketball returned to form in win over FSU

Jaeden Zackery continues to help anchor this Clemson team on both ends of the court.

Grayson Mann - Staff Writer - Sunday, January 12 2025

Once January hits the calendar, every game for Brad Brownell’s unit magnifies in significance.

That understanding is nothing new to Clemson’s leading man, and he jokingly made sure no snow would jeopardize Saturday’s results.

While the campus transformed into a winter wonderland, the team was knee-deep in preparations for the Seminoles.

After a loss to Louisville, where defensive spirit left much to be desired, all hands were on deck on becoming the team that dictated the result on the floor.

Jamir Watkins hit two early threes, and things appeared locked in for another close result. The only stat associated with Watkins the rest of the way was how loud the decibels the crowd could record every time he touched the ball.

Florida State also hit another stat it wouldn’t wish to collect on, totaling a season-low in points in the loss. The Tigers got back to their brand of basketball, and Brownell was certainly pleased with the effort in the 77-57 win Saturday.

“Yeah, obviously extremely athletic and physical, and their guys play hard again,” Brownell said. “We just played really, really well. We played one of our better games in the year this year, and I was concerned Florida State is good and early, it was back and forth a little bit, but as we started to pull away, we gained confidence, and we were able to maintain it with good shooting. Obviously some of it is you have to shoot, well we make 13 threes, it makes your game a little bit easier. So that happened today to help us, but our defense was good and proud of how we responded.”

That intensity was magnified by an excellent shooting night from the offense, all started from three-point land.

Clemson opened up on fire from beyond the arc, perhaps melting some leftover ice left on Littlejohn’s grounds.

The offensive gauntlet was started by Chase Hunter, who put together his fourth performance of over 25 points or more. His consistency this season has been exactly what the Tigers have wanted out of their top option, as Hunter has logged double figures in all but one game.

Along with Jaeden Zackery and Del Jones, Clemson’s backcourt shined, combining for 49 points between the three guards. Brad Brownell expressed the need for his bench to continue to grow, and Jones more than responded to that challenge.

Given Viktor Lakhin’s foul trouble and Ian Schieffelin's back spasms, the backcourt and Jones came at an opportune time.

Brownell hopes today can be the start of more consistency from his guys beyond the starting five.

“I think it's important over the long haul that our bench contributed,” Brownell said. "Dillon has been really good all year for us. Jake, I think, has been better here recently. Del has shown flashes. We have to keep working with our frontcourt guys, Christian (Reeves) and Myles (Foster). Myles hasn't gotten as many opportunities lately. Christian, a few. I thought Christian was okay today, so he was fine. We ended up just kind of that smaller lineup was working, and so we kind of didn't go back to him really through no fault of his own, and a little bit with Myles like Chauncey was playing probably better at the four than at the three. And so that probably took some of his minutes. And so it's just we've got to evaluate game to game, what's good for each guy and how much they can handle. But certainly, we need our bench to contribute to finish the season the way we want to.”

Certainly, Saturday’s win could be a spark of the right items coming together at the right time.

Sitting at 5-1 in the ACC, the Tigers are in a prime position to solidify themselves as a team that could snag a double-bye in the conference tournament. A two-game road trip against Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh will prove to be more opportunities to build that consistency.

The snow has melted away, but Clemson’s defensive fire will continue to be the difference between a deep run in March, or putting a season on ice.