CLEMSON, S.C. -- PJ Hall led the Clemson Tigers out of their three-game losing streak, as Clemson took down the Florida State Seminoles 94-54 at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Hall was 4-for-4 from three-point range Wednesday night and put 20 points on the scoreboard for the Tigers. The junior was 8-for-10 overall from the field and also grabbed six rebounds. His four 3-pointers were a personal best and going back to last week’s game at North Carolina, Hall has connected on six of his last seven three-point attempts.
“I’ve been comfortable with PJ shooting for many years now, the last two for sure,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “It’s a tremendous weapon when he’s making (three-pointers) and it puts pressure on the defense in a different way, which is really good for our team.”
Hall had a slow start to the season after off-season surgery to his foot and then injuring his knee over the summer. Though he missed just the season opener, his time was limited early in the year, which left some questioning his ability.
But Hall has slowly returned to his All-ACC form. The 6-foot-10 center was a weapon in applying pressure to the Seminoles on the defensive end of the court.
FSU tallied just 18 points in the paint and turned the ball over 16 times, which Clemson cashed in for 31 points. The Tigers had a 31-9 advantage when it came to points off turnovers.
“Yeah, I thought defensively we did a nice job. We didn't give them a lot of easy stuff around the basket,” Brownell said.
Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton said that the Tigers' physicality affected them in missing a lot of shots at the rim, which showed in the numbers. Additionally, Clemson outrebounded Florida State 34-20 and had a 7-3 edge on the offensive glass.
“Sometimes if I’m at the top of the key I don't tend to crash the glass, I’m getting back on defense,” said Hall on why he has not been as physical on the offensive glass prior to Wednesday. “There’s more times than not I need to be going back in there to try to find one and get another possession for us.”
Clemson was able to physically dominate the Seminoles due to a mentality it established during the course of the week, as Brownell made practice a little more difficult than usual.
“Apply more pressure, it’s louder, it’s more guys pushing each other a lot more good-on-good, a lot more banging and the biggest thing is trying to be more competitive,” said Hall.
The Tigers travel to Kentucky to face the Louisville Cardinals, Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
“I thought we played well and bounced back and now we got to take it on the road,” said Brownell.
--photo by Jonathan Abercrombie / All Clemson Tigers