McCray dropped 22 points in the second half to lead the Seminoles into their latest stunner, this time against Clemson.
Robert McCray V just elevated Florida State basketball's chances at a higher seed ahead of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
McCray scored 29 points total -- but dropped 22 on a 20-win Clemson team Saturday, engineering the 70-65 stunner on the road. Florida State is now above .500 for the first time this season at 14-13 overall while also evening its ACC record at 7-7.
McCray took over with under 10 minutes to play, scoring 10 points during that sequence to spark the rally. Yet he really ignited the FSU bench with under 2:25 left in the second half.
FSU managed to outscore Clemson 37-29 the rest of the way after halftime. McCray nailed four from behind the arc including the one under 2:25 that gave FSU the lead for good. He also went 10-of-19 from field goal range.
McCray's 29 points is now a season-tying best. He was one of only two FSU players to reach double figures.
Lajae Jones joined him on that front -- scoring 13 points and hitting a trio of threes inside Littlejohn Arena.
But head coach Luke Loucks created a high-energy defensive display that swallowed Clemson's post and inside game. Florida State surrendered only 22 points in the paint by eliminating the lane openings with its suffocating pressure defensive display.
Loucks' defensive scheme also prevented a single Tigers scorer from surpassing 15 points. In fact, Clemson's lead scorer became bench player Ace Buckner, who settled for the 15 on the day.
Dillon Hunter led the Clemson starters with 13 points. RJ Godfrey finished with scoring 12 points for the Tigers. Butta Johnson was the next closest Tigers player toward double figures, but scored only nine points.
FSU still bottled Clemson to only 38% shooting on the day, including 30% from three-point land. Florida State got five total blocks in the game too -- with Jones becoming the swat force there in hitting three blocks. Thomas Bassong and Alex Steen added a block too on the defensive side.
Not a single FSU player surpassed the six-rebound mark (McCray led there with six). However, the Noles still grabbed 28 total rebounds in the road victory.
Chauncey Wiggins scored just seven points in facing his old team inside his former arena for the first time. But Wiggins became more of a vocal voice and closet coach leading into the Clemson game -- by revealing what the Tigers were good at and aiming to exploit that. Bassong and Martin Sommerville added six points apiece.
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