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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Seminoles.com) – Florida State Women’s Basketball prepares for its first road game of the season as it travels to rival Clemson for a Thursday night tilt at 7 p.m. at Littlejohn Coliseum. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
Thursday marks the 59th meeting between the Florida State Seminoles (2-0, 1-0) and the Clemson Tigers (6-1, 1-1), with Florida State owning a 32-26 all-time record. The matchup was scheduled on the fly after FSU’s previously scheduled game at No. 2 Louisville was postponed due to a positive test within the Louisville program. As a result, FSU’s original Dec. 31 home game vs. Clemson is now shifted to Jan. 17.
With Clemson having seven games under its belt compared to Florida State’s two, the Seminoles know they will be in for a tough test against a much-improved Tigers team.
Our first road game of the season is tomorrow night at Clemson 🚊
Tune into the matchup on ACC Network Extra! 📺💻 #COMMIT pic.twitter.com/1toM20RLg5
— FSU Women’s Hoops (@fsuwbb) December 16, 2020
“Under Amanda Butler, Clemson will be an active, in-your-face, pressure defensive team,” Interim Head Coach Brooke Wyckoff said. “They are very good at what they do in terms of pressuring the ball, trying to keep the ball on one side, trying to make it very tough to pass and to attack the basket on the first side. They’ll pressure in full court, they’ll trap, and that’s what we’ve been preparing for.”
Wyckoff coaches in her third game leading the FSU sidelines. Already this season, she became just the second FSU head coach ever to win her first meeting with rival Florida (W, 81-75) and is the first FSU head coach to win her debut ACC game (W, 69-51 vs. Virginia last Sunday).
The Seminoles have only played two games so far, which is the fewest among ACC teams. But in their two wins vs. Florida and Virginia, they have gotten back to their workmanlike ways on the glass. FSU leads the conference in rebounding defense (24.5 rebounds allowed), rebound margin (+21.0), blocked shots (8.5) and defensive rebounding percentage (81 percent).
The last time sophomore guard Sammie Puisis stepped into Littlejohn Coliseum, she put together a career performance by scoring 17 points off the bench including hitting 5-of-8 from beyond the arc in an 81-64 win on Dec. 8, 2019.
In order to win, you’ve got to be 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 to do what’s asked of you.@sammiepuisis is the kind of player and person we look for #COMMIT pic.twitter.com/tdrkXx6JuF
— FSU Women’s Hoops (@fsuwbb) December 16, 2020
Junior forward Valencia Myers is coming off a school-record tying nine blocked shots in FSU’s 69-51 win vs. Virginia on Sunday. Myers’ blocked shot total ties the school record held by standout center Jacinta Monroe vs. Georgia Tech on Jan. 18, 2009.
Through the early portion of the season, Clemson sharp-shooter Kendall Spray is among the Tigers’ scoring leaders with 12.7 points per game. Spray is always a long-distance threat, shooting 45.5 percent from beyond the arc this season and making multiple 3s in every game so far.
The Tigers have scored at least 70 points in six of their first seven games for the first time since the 1995-96 season. Clemson is averaging 78.7 points per game and forcing 19.1 turnovers this season.
FSU finishes the week with a home game vs. Pitt on Sunday at 2 p.m.
