Florida State University Athletics
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Clemson
Lajae Jones Impacts Winning as Florida State Travels to Play at Clemson
2/20/2026 9:05:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CLEMSON, S.C. – Senior Lajae Jones has scored in double figures in a season-high five consecutive games and is averaging 15.4 points since scoring 18 points in Florida State's 88-80 victory over Stanford. With 17 games in double figure scoring this season, he is averaging a career-high 11.8 points per game marking the second consecutive season he has averaged in double figure scoring.
He's close to achieving career-high statistics in numerous offensive categories including 3-point field goals made, free throws made, assists, and total points scored.
But as Jones and the Seminoles prepare to face the nationally-ranked Clemson Tigers on Saturday in Littlejohn Coliseum, what he really wants to talk about is his defense.
The Seminoles travel to play at No. 24 Clemson at 12 Noon on Clemson's home court. The game will be televised on The CW with Tom Werme and Georgia Tech's Brian Oliver, the MVP of the 1990 ACC Tournament, calling the action as Florida State works to continue its climb upwards in the ACC standings.
Jeff Culhane and former Seminole Blake Miles have the call live on the Seminole Sports Network and on Facebook Live on the Florida State Men's Basketball Facebook page. Fans can also check out their Courtside Cam broadcast on the FSU MBB Facebook and X pages, the Seminoles' YouTube channel, and on the Seminoles Unconquered app.
Jones enters Saturday's game averaging a career-high 6.0 rebounds per game and nearly one blocked shot per game. He has earned double-figures in rebounds in three of the last nine games with his career-high of 13 rebounds coming against No. 15 ranked Virginia. All three of his double figure rebounding games have come in ACC play.
Defense is the key, said Jones. The coaching staff has asked me to rely on my defense to create my offense and that has worked well for me since we began playing our ACC schedule. I feel like our defense is creating some really good offense and the results are showing with wins.
Florida State has won six of its last eight ACC games (three at home and three on the road) as it has held its last eight opponents to more than 10 points fewer than it allowed its opponents in their first 18 games of the season.
In their last eight games, the Seminoles held their opponents to fewer than 72 points or less five times (Miami, 63; Cal, 61; Virginia, 61; Virginia Tech, 62; Boston College, 72) while scoring 80 or more points in five games (80 vs. SMU: 88 vs. Stanford; 82 at Notre Dame; 92 at Virginia Tech; 80 against Boston College).
Florida State has outrebounded four of its last eight opponents including Boston College which it outrebounded by a 42-30 margin.
In the last nine games, Jones had three double-figure rebounding games with 10 coming against Wake Forest, 12 coming at SMU, and 13 coming against Virginia.
Jones totaled three blocked shots in Florida State's victory at Virginia Tech and has blocked nine shots in the last eight games. His 25 blocked shots this season are just four shy of establishing a new single-season personal career high. Jones blocked 28 shots during the 2024-25 season while at St. Bonaventure.
Everyone is going to talk about our offense (against Virginia Tech) when we scored 53 points and shot 78 percent from the field in the second half, said head coach Luke Loucks. But I was more pleased on the defensive end. Our offense benefitted from our defense. When you sit down and guard, get stops, make it really difficult on the opponent to score the ball, and you rebound, that can be very deflating for an opponent.
And Jones has been the Seminoles' defensive standout during their recent upward surge in the ACC standings.
Florida State's coaching staff points to two of the biggest defensive plays of the year coming from Jones of which both helped lead the Seminoles to their second ACC victory of the season.
The first was Jones' length of the court chase down block of the Golden Bears' Semetri Carr in the first half to help the Seminoles maintain an 18-17 lead in the first half. Jones not only blocked the ball at the rim, but was able to keep the ball inbounds and restart the Seminoles' offense. His block helped the Seminoles take a 36-23 halftime lead and led to their 63-61 victory.
The second was an offensive rebound (his eighth rebound of the game) with 10 seconds left in the game against Cal. The Seminoles led by the thinnest of margins (62-61) when Jones skyed for a rebound and was fouled. He made one of two free throws to close out the win for Florida State.
Both were big plays for our team because both ultimately helped us win the game which is the most important thing, said Jones. I thought the offensive rebound was the bigger play because it helped us close out the game.
Jones grabbed nine rebounds in Florida State's 80-72 come-from-behind victory over Boston College on Tuesday in Tallahassee.
He grabbed one of his four offensive rebounds (he totaled nine rebounds during the game) with 2:33 left in the game and scored what proved to be a pivotal basket. His basket gave the Seminoles a 70-68 lead and led to Florida State's sixth ACC win in its last eight conference games.
Any offensive rebound that changes the tide of the game is important, said Jones. That one was important because it gave us a lead, and we were able to win the game.
Loucks has been pleased with Jones's improvement since the ACC schedule began in late December.
I am really pleased with Lajae's shift, said Loucks. It's more mental and more emotional for Lajae because he has always had the combination of size and skill that is very tough for opponents to match up with.
Earlier in the season he was so focused on making shots that the rest of his game was non-existent. All he focuses on now is the rest of his game including defending, rotating, and flying down the court in transition on both sides of the ball. If he goes 0-3 or if he goes six of seven (from the field), he still has a huge impact on winning and that's what he's figured out.
