GAME NOTES: The Florida State Seminoles and Clemson Tigers open up play in Wednesday's second-round action of the ACC Tournament, as the two teams clash in an afternoon affair at Greensboro Coliseum.

The winner of this game will take on top-seed Virginia in Thursday's quarterfinal round.

Clemson is hovering just over .500 on the year at 16-14, but the team went just 8-10 in conference play, earning the eighth-seed. The Tigers limp into the postseason with losses in four of its last five games. Clemson has never won this event and has a record of just 18-61 all-time.

Florida State has a losing record in this event as well at 14-22, but the team did win the 2012 ACC Tournament. The ninth-seeded Seminoles, who finished the year at 16-15 overall and 8-10 in conference play, struggled with consistency for a good portion of this season, but they were able to enter the postseason on a positive note, ending a three-game slide with a win over Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale.

These two teams split a pair of regular-season matchups with each squad winning low-scoring affairs on the road.

Leonard Hamilton was forced to change things up early on, when Aaron Thomas (14.5 ppg) was dismissed from the team. However, his departure opened the door for freshman point guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes to step into the spotlight. The bright lights didn't faze the youngster, who showed the ability to dominate as both a scorer (14.4 ppg) and distributor (4.4 apg) en route to being named All-ACC Honorable Mention. Montay Brandon (11.9 ppg) and Devon Bookert (10.3 ppg) are viable scoring options as well for Florida State.

The Seminoles aren't exactly an offensive juggernaut, coming into the postseason averaging the exact same amount of points (67.1 ppg) as it yields. The team's scoring average is good for just 10th in the league, despite a solid field-goal percentage of .459 (fifth in the ACC).

Clemson has had even less success at the offensive end of the floor. The Tigers are averaging just 62.4 ppg (last in the ACC), while shooting a pedestrian .409 from the floor (14th in the league), a number weighed down by an ugly .296 effort from long range (14th in the league). The defensive effort has been much better, with the team ranking third in the ACC in scoring defense, yielding just 61.7 ppg.

The offensive weapons on the roster aren't exactly plentiful, although sophomore forward Jaron Blossomgame has evolved into one of the conference's rising stars. Blossomgame, who has started every game this season, is shooting .486 from the field this year and tops Clemson in both scoring (13.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.2 rpg). Donte Grantham and Rod Hall have also started every game this year, and come in with 8.9 and 8.6 ppg, respectively.

The two players to watch are Rathan-Mayes for FSU and Blossomgame for Clemson. In what should be another low-scoring affair, expect Rathan-Mayes to make the difference in sending Florida State into the next round.