For the third time in four games, Aamir Simms did not have his best stuff.
On Saturday, Clemson’s senior forward scored just five points while going 1-for-3 from the field in the 20th-ranked Tigers’ 80-61 loss to Florida State. Simms’ three attempts were his lowest in a game this season, and his fewest since he took just three against the Seminoles on February 29, 2020.
He only took five attempts in the Tigers’ 10-point win over FSU on Dec. 29 in Clemson.
“I said something to him early in the game. I said, ‘Hey man! You need to slow down.’ He was playing too quickly. He was trying to drive things a little,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “He had one drive that was really bad. He drove a play … I know he is trying to make a play. I think some of it is he is trying to make a play because our team is struggling.”
The Tigers (9-4, 3-4 ACC) are struggling. Saturday’s loss at the Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Fla., was their third loss in a row. In their losses to No. 13 Virginia, Georgia Tech and Florida State, they have been outscored 248-176.
Clemson shot just 30 percent from the field (17-56) on Saturday and was 5-for-30 from three-point range. At one point in the game, the Tigers were just 6-for-38 from the field.
“Tonight, was a tough matchup for (Simms),” Brownell said. “When they switch every screen, and he is not a big guy and so their wings can kind of front him in the post a little bit. They got such big guys around him, that it is not like you can lob it over and have him take advantage of the mismatch.
“So, it is not as easy to get him the ball in a game like tonight as you would think or hope.”
Though Simms did score 19 points against the Yellow Jackets this past Wednesday, he was just 1-for-9 and had two points against the Cavaliers on Jan. 16. He also produced just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting in a win over NC State on Jan. 5.
And though he was 9-of-14 against Tech, Simms turned the basketball over four times.
In the last four games, he is a combined 0-for-11 from behind the arc. The preseason All-ACC candidate has not made a three-pointer since Clemson’s win over Miami on Jan. 2, when he was 2-for-2 from behind the line.
“I did not think he played quite as bad against Georgia Tech, and I can’t really remember and don’t want to remember the Virginia game,” Brownell said.
In the last four games, Simms is shooting just 14-of-37 from the field (37.9 percent) and averaging 8.5 points per game.
The senior will try to get things going again on Wednesday when the Tigers host Boston College at 9 p.m., from Littlejohn Coliseum.