There are plenty of alarming stats for Florida State during it's last two losses. Virginia and North Carolina combined to shoot 48.5 percent from the floor against FSU, while knocking down 15 three-point shots.
| Clemson vs. Florida State |
When: Thursday 8:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network
Records: FSU 10-7, 2-2 ACC
Clemson 10-7, 2-3 ACC
Where: Donald L. Tucker Center, Tallahassee, Fla.
Series: FSU leads 31-28
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The most troubling statistic for Leonard Hamilton's team comes in the rebound column. FSU was out-rebounded 41-19 by UNC, and then 30-22 by Virginia. The Seminoles (10-7, 2-2 ACC) allowed an average of 16.5 second-chance points in the two games.
"It's a little bit of everything, but it's mostly technique," center Kiel Turpin said. "We'll have a couple guys going for it, some guys aren't, we've just got to play as a unit and realize if we're going to win this game we're going to have to rebound. That's the main thing we've got to do is just rebound and block out."
FSU, which has a negative 1.2 rebound differential for the season, will have to find a way to pick up extra boards without one of it's top rebounders for the foreseeable future. Terrance Shannon, who suffered sprained neck against UVA, will be out indefinitely as he recovers from his second neck injury of the season.
The redshirt junior forward was averaging 6.3 boards per game, second to only Okaro White's average of 6.8 rebounds. Hamilton said that junior forward Robert Gilchrist, who's been slowed by a groin injury this season, is the most likely to see a bump in minutes in Shannon's absence.
"He's next in line because he was playing real well there for minute and then he had his groin injury that kind of set him back," Hamilton said. "I think he's a 100 percent healthy now. I'm sure that he'll be anxious to fill in for the void that we've experienced from not having Terrance"
The FSU big men will have their hands full on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET as they look to stop their losing skid against Clemson (10-7, 2-3 ACC). FSU came away with a 71-66 win in the team's first match-up of the year on January 5.
Clemson forward Devin Booker had a big game with a 19 points and 11 rebounds. The senior is averaging 12.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game this season.
"I think that he's a pro-type player," Hamilton said of Booker. "He's having an outstanding year. He's playing within himself. Playing with a tremendous amount of maturity, staying out of foul trouble, hitting his jump shot, blocking shots, playing within what he thinks in order for his team to win. He's really, really been sharp."
Turpin took the blame for Booker's big game in the last match-up, saying he allowed Booker to get inside of him too much and get some easy looks. The 7-foot, 240-pound center knows if FSU is going to complete the season sweep of Clemson, he'll have to do a better job denying Booker the ball in the post.
"We let the ball go in the post a lot so I think that's going to be our main focus this time around," Turpin said. "Making sure we don't let the ball go in the post that many times. Mainly our defense, it was OK but it could be better. We need to go back to our defensive tendencies."
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