Brad Brownell says Clemson did a 'nice job' defending Florida State

Blowout of the Wednesday night college basketball slate went to Clemson. Head coach Brad Brownell absolutely destroyed Florida State, winning by 40 points in an ACC showdown. While the two have been on the opposite side of the standings all season, a winning margin that large is impressive, to say the least.

Brownell was really impressed with Clemson’s defensive ability at home in Littlejohn Coliseum. Florida State was only able to put 54 points on the board, the lowest amount they have scored against a conference opponent this season. While some threes did go down, the Tigers were locked in defensively.

“I thought defensively, we did a nice job,” Brownell said. “We didn’t give them a lot of easy stuff around the basket. They did make some threes. That (Baba) Miller kid, for whatever reason, he likes to play against Clemson. He plays really well against us. Made some tough shots.”

Miller was one of the bright spots for Florida State. He was the only player on Leonard Hamilton’s team that finished in double figures with 12 points. Four of six shooting and three of four from behind the arc was by far the best performance for the Seminoles.

Brownell also said Matthew Cleveland not being in the lineup helped. The team’s leading scorer at 14.0 and rebounder with 7.8 per game, Florida State was missing a crucial piece to the puzzle on Wednesday night.

“It helped us Matthew Cleveland didn’t play,” Brownell said. “That helps. Take another good player out of their starting lineup and get a little deeper into their bench.”

Clemson ‘locked in’ according to Brad Brownell

When the final scoreline reads 94-54 and ends in your favor, something was going right. Brownell thinks his team was “just locked in” and was “one of those nights.” If Clemson can continue to have “those nights”, they will be one of the toughest teams to beat in the country.

“We were just locked in, got off to a good start, shots fell,” Brownell said. “Just one of those nights where you play really, really well.”

Louisville is next up for the Tigers, facing off against another lower-ranked team inside the ACC. Clemson has found itself in bubble conversation at times. And if results such as Florida State went against them, they would stay there.

However, getting a large win is a great indicator to the selection committee you belong in the bracket.