FSU 68 Cal 77 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good
Three players in double digits. Jamir Watkins once again in double digits with 18 (that is 35 of his last 36 games surpassing 10 or more) to go along with 8 boards. Malique Ewin with 16 marking his 16th consecutive game in double digits and recorded 10 rebounds as well. That makes five straight double doubles for Ewin. Jerry Deng added 11 off the bench.
The fact that Watkins and Ewin were able to play out the remaining 7:32 after sitting a number of minutes with four fouls apiece was a feat in itself. Unfortunately Alier Maluk was not so fortunate as he did foul out of the game.
Honorable mention to Dequan Davis who was just about the only Seminole out there displaying hustle.
Plays of the game (what there were of them): Davis tight defense on the first possession forces an airball. Ewin with a twisting up and under layup, 4-0. Ewin's layup fighting through two defenders, 16-20. Watkins on the break with the bounce pass to Taylor Bol Bowen. 27-27. Off a Bol Bowen steal, Davis in transition for the layup, 29-27. Watkins picked off a long pass and took it coast to coast, 47-49. Deng anticipates the inbound pass under the basket and easily lays it in, 51-49. Davis hustles back to block a sure layup with less thana minute to play.
The Bad
The West coast trip starts off on a sour note with FSU falling to 13-6 overall, 4-4 ACC. Coming into the game, the 'Noles were 2-8 in their last ten ACC road games. Make that 2-9. The beginning of the game was an indicator of how the contest eventually played out. FSU found itself down 17-7 with just over seven minutes gone in the game. The Bears connected on 8 of their first 10 shots. The Seminoles did make a charge and kept it close trailing by just four, 37-33, at the half. But that is in large part to Cal not scoring on the many opportunities they created for themselves. The 'Noles did have a lead at 6-4 that was wiped out by a 13-1 Cal run. FSU also had a very brief lead at 51-49. But with FSU's two leading (and really only consistent scorers) on the bench, the Bears were able to start pulling away. When Watkins and Ewin re-entered the game, there was not much they could do certainly not on defense anyway.
Apparently FSU missed Chandler Jackson and AJ Swinton (both out with injuries) more than Cal missed their leading scorer Andreij Stojakovic (18.9 ppg) who was out with the flu. Because Cal was easily able to replace almost all of those points from the 18 that FR Jeremiah Wilkinson scored tonight.
When your head coach says as Leonard Hamilton did after the game that he has no idea what the offense was out there on the floor, you know you did not play particularly well. Hamilton also was not pleased with his team's passion and intensity commenting how much harder the Bears played. And they did as FSU had difficulty in dealing with the physical play Cal brought. It was brutal for the 'Noles any time they were under or around the basket. I believe the count was something like 14 of 31 in the paint.
A hallmark of a Hamilton team has been a team with many players that can score. On any give night, you could have any one of ten different players lead the team in scoring in that contest. Not so here as Watkins and Ewin are getting zippo (not a Marx Brother) consistent scoring help from anyone else on the bench.
Far too many times FSU was being beaten down the court. A Rylis Petralis put back after a fast break miss by a teammate saw three Seminoles lagging down the floor behind him. That prompted Davis to have a few exhortations at his teammates while bringing the ball up.
It was 49-4 with 11:52 to play as Watkins and Ewin sat the pine. Nearly eight minutes later, it was 67-55. Cal by that time had control of the game.
Cal is 2nd in ACC in offensive rebounds averaging 12 per game. Tonight the Cal Bears collected .......... 24!!!! Yes, the Seminoles allowed the other team to grab 24 offensive boards. Apologies for not knowing how many second chance points the Bears scored from those. It was not as many as it should have been. When Cal had 15 ORbs, they only had 6 points from them. Now I know FSU had 21 themselves. It wasn't that close much of the time however. Most were late in the game. And the 'Noles did not score many from those as Cal's defense in the paint was extremely rugged as mentioned before.
I think I saw this right as I had to do a say what double take. But the ACCN displayed a graphic that showed the number of wins Hamilton has while at Florida State over the course of his "8 years" as FSU's head man. Umm? Tell me if I read that wrong.
The Ugly
During a 12-2 run, FSU was 1-13 from the floor. But they shoot well in practice.
3-15 as in 20% from behind the arc. And just one of those was scored in the under four minutes mark of the game. But they shoot ......
3-5 as in they went to the FT line how many times? Yup, just five trips for a team that is 20th in the country in FTs attempted. And Watkins made all three of the freebies.
Did I mention the ORbs by Cal? Had the Bears scored more off those second chance ops, this would have been a blowout.
Up Next
FSU heads about an hour down the road to Palo Alto to take on Stanford on Saturday. Tip is 7 PM EST and will be broadcast on the ACCN. When we last saw the Cardinal, they were the latest team to pummel the Hurricanes (I am certain everyone is disappointed by that). As of this writing, Stanford (12-6, 4-3 soon to be 5-3) was up by thirty, 68-38 with just over seven to play. I am not seeing a comeback for Miami in this one I think.
The Good
Three players in double digits. Jamir Watkins once again in double digits with 18 (that is 35 of his last 36 games surpassing 10 or more) to go along with 8 boards. Malique Ewin with 16 marking his 16th consecutive game in double digits and recorded 10 rebounds as well. That makes five straight double doubles for Ewin. Jerry Deng added 11 off the bench.
The fact that Watkins and Ewin were able to play out the remaining 7:32 after sitting a number of minutes with four fouls apiece was a feat in itself. Unfortunately Alier Maluk was not so fortunate as he did foul out of the game.
Honorable mention to Dequan Davis who was just about the only Seminole out there displaying hustle.
Plays of the game (what there were of them): Davis tight defense on the first possession forces an airball. Ewin with a twisting up and under layup, 4-0. Ewin's layup fighting through two defenders, 16-20. Watkins on the break with the bounce pass to Taylor Bol Bowen. 27-27. Off a Bol Bowen steal, Davis in transition for the layup, 29-27. Watkins picked off a long pass and took it coast to coast, 47-49. Deng anticipates the inbound pass under the basket and easily lays it in, 51-49. Davis hustles back to block a sure layup with less thana minute to play.
The Bad
The West coast trip starts off on a sour note with FSU falling to 13-6 overall, 4-4 ACC. Coming into the game, the 'Noles were 2-8 in their last ten ACC road games. Make that 2-9. The beginning of the game was an indicator of how the contest eventually played out. FSU found itself down 17-7 with just over seven minutes gone in the game. The Bears connected on 8 of their first 10 shots. The Seminoles did make a charge and kept it close trailing by just four, 37-33, at the half. But that is in large part to Cal not scoring on the many opportunities they created for themselves. The 'Noles did have a lead at 6-4 that was wiped out by a 13-1 Cal run. FSU also had a very brief lead at 51-49. But with FSU's two leading (and really only consistent scorers) on the bench, the Bears were able to start pulling away. When Watkins and Ewin re-entered the game, there was not much they could do certainly not on defense anyway.
Apparently FSU missed Chandler Jackson and AJ Swinton (both out with injuries) more than Cal missed their leading scorer Andreij Stojakovic (18.9 ppg) who was out with the flu. Because Cal was easily able to replace almost all of those points from the 18 that FR Jeremiah Wilkinson scored tonight.
When your head coach says as Leonard Hamilton did after the game that he has no idea what the offense was out there on the floor, you know you did not play particularly well. Hamilton also was not pleased with his team's passion and intensity commenting how much harder the Bears played. And they did as FSU had difficulty in dealing with the physical play Cal brought. It was brutal for the 'Noles any time they were under or around the basket. I believe the count was something like 14 of 31 in the paint.
A hallmark of a Hamilton team has been a team with many players that can score. On any give night, you could have any one of ten different players lead the team in scoring in that contest. Not so here as Watkins and Ewin are getting zippo (not a Marx Brother) consistent scoring help from anyone else on the bench.
Far too many times FSU was being beaten down the court. A Rylis Petralis put back after a fast break miss by a teammate saw three Seminoles lagging down the floor behind him. That prompted Davis to have a few exhortations at his teammates while bringing the ball up.
It was 49-4 with 11:52 to play as Watkins and Ewin sat the pine. Nearly eight minutes later, it was 67-55. Cal by that time had control of the game.
Cal is 2nd in ACC in offensive rebounds averaging 12 per game. Tonight the Cal Bears collected .......... 24!!!! Yes, the Seminoles allowed the other team to grab 24 offensive boards. Apologies for not knowing how many second chance points the Bears scored from those. It was not as many as it should have been. When Cal had 15 ORbs, they only had 6 points from them. Now I know FSU had 21 themselves. It wasn't that close much of the time however. Most were late in the game. And the 'Noles did not score many from those as Cal's defense in the paint was extremely rugged as mentioned before.
I think I saw this right as I had to do a say what double take. But the ACCN displayed a graphic that showed the number of wins Hamilton has while at Florida State over the course of his "8 years" as FSU's head man. Umm? Tell me if I read that wrong.
The Ugly
During a 12-2 run, FSU was 1-13 from the floor. But they shoot well in practice.
3-15 as in 20% from behind the arc. And just one of those was scored in the under four minutes mark of the game. But they shoot ......
3-5 as in they went to the FT line how many times? Yup, just five trips for a team that is 20th in the country in FTs attempted. And Watkins made all three of the freebies.
Did I mention the ORbs by Cal? Had the Bears scored more off those second chance ops, this would have been a blowout.
Up Next
FSU heads about an hour down the road to Palo Alto to take on Stanford on Saturday. Tip is 7 PM EST and will be broadcast on the ACCN. When we last saw the Cardinal, they were the latest team to pummel the Hurricanes (I am certain everyone is disappointed by that). As of this writing, Stanford (12-6, 4-3 soon to be 5-3) was up by thirty, 68-38 with just over seven to play. I am not seeing a comeback for Miami in this one I think.
