By Will Vandervort.
As the ACC season gets set to start the second half of the year, one thing is becoming very certain – Clemson is becoming a dangerous team to play.
Why?
The Tigers have discovered that there is life after K.J. McDaniels. They are having guys step up and make plays that ordinarily would not, guys like Josh Smith and Sidy Djitte.
Other players, like Jordan Roper and Landry Nnoko, are finally becoming the kind of players everyone thought they could be. Roper has averaged 18 points a game the last three times out, while Nnoko scored 10 points at NC State and then recorded nine points and nine rebounds against Boston College.
With players discovering their role on the team, making plays and more importantly making shots, Clemson’s confidence has soared as they ride a three-game winning streak into Wednesday’s Florida State game in Tallahassee, Fla.
“When you are making shots it allows you to get your defense set and sometimes you can defend better,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “It gives you energy and confidence and I think you saw that in both games.
“You saw a team last week, at NC State and vs. Boston College, that played with pretty good confidence because we had a guy shooting the ball with pretty good regularity.”
That guy was Roper, who scored the Tigers first 11 points of the day and finished with a career-high 24 points, including 8 of 11 from the field and 6 of 7 from three-point range.
“Roper can score the ball many different ways. It allows a defense not to lock in on my drives and stuff like that,” forward Jaron Blossomgame said. “With him being able to shoot the ball, I can drive inside and kick to him. It opens up more options in our offense.”
And it makes Clemson (13-8, 5-4 ACC) one of the more dangerous teams to face right now in the ACC.
“That is the thing about our team. We are dangerous because we have a lot of guys that score the ball,” Blossomgame said. “Rod Hall has had a couple of games where he has had 20 points and Landry has had a couple of games where he is in high double figures, and Donte (Grantham) is showing he can play at a high level and score 16 points against Syracuse.
“There are a lot of guys that are capable of scoring.”
But Florida State is one of the few teams that are not scared of Clemson. The Seminoles, like Clemson, is also on a streak. FSU has won two straight games – a double overtime win over Wake Forest and then a come-from-behind victory against Miami, a game in which it rallied from 16 points down at halftime.
To top it off, the Seminoles (12-10, 4-5 ACC) beat the Tigers, 59-55, on Jan. 19 in Littlejohn. They held Clemson to 34 percent shooting.
“We just have to be better offensively. Florida State is a good defensive team. Great size inside and it is hard to get easy baskets, second shots and all of those kinds of things when you play against them,” Brownell said.
The Seminoles were the Tigers last loss, maybe a win at the Tucker Center on Wednesday can make them even more dangerous than they already appear to be.
“We shot great as a team in the first half at NC State and then Jordan shot great against Boston College and it just gives you a lot of life,” Brownell said. “It takes a lot of pressure off of you and it doesn’t make every possession feel so quite important. We certainly hope that continues.”