What if? It's easy as a sports fan to put on the retroscope and look at any game and ask 'what if?' Unfortunately for the Seminoles, this will be a game that not only receives a lot of 'what ifs' tonight and tomorrow but also from here until the end of their season. This was a missed opportunity for the Seminoles to take sole possession of third place in the conference and put themselves in a good position to be guaranteed a bye in the ACC tournament. Now, they have work to do.
Clemson did not score for the first seven minutes of the game. That should have been game, set, match with Florida State cruising to victory. If that wasn't enough, the Tigers had another four minute scoring drought in the first half. Game over, right? The Seminoles only had a 19-6 lead with just over four minutes to go in the first half. One would think that would have been the time to put the game out of reach. Instead, Clemson went on a 13-2 run to finish the first half only down by two points.
Clemson started the second half with an 8-0 run. They out scored the Seminoles 21-2 over a seven minute thirty eight second stretch that bridged halftime. Florida State worked its way back into the game only to see Clemson move ahead again. This occurred twice before Florida State appeared to take control of the game with about ten minutes to go. In a game that really felt that the first one to 50 would win, the Seminoles opened up a six point lead. One would think that in a game that neither team could score, that would be enough to get the job done.
It wasn't. With 2:35 to go, Tanner Smith hit a three point shot from the corner. Smith was shooting 28.4% from deep on the season. From that point forward, Seminoles fans had a sinking feeling in their stomach and a sense of deja vu: missed free throws and turnovers. Chris Singleton missed two free throws with 1:24 to go. Solomon Alabi went 1-2 from the line with fourteen seconds to go. Michael Snaer had a turnover on an inbound pass that led to an Andre Young three pointer on the next possession. It was one thing after another.
