FSU 85 UNC 96 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good
For a change, FSU played a strong first half. The 'Noles actually held a leads over the Tar Heels totaling just over 5 minutes of clock time. Holding a lead over UNC is something the previous three opponents of the Heels did not do. It was back and forth over 16:46 of the first half. The two teams were deadlocked at 39 at that point. And despite trailing 49-43 at intermission and by as many as 14 in the second period, FSU was able to close the margin to six, 68-62, with 12:03 to play.
Offense was not the problem in this game as all of the Seminoles' shooting stats were quite good. 54% from the floor, 10-20 (50%) from the arc (how often do we see that from this FSU team?) and 75% from the stripe. The team even did well at sharing and moving the ball recording 16 assists on 27 FGs. North Carolina is not exactly known as a good defensive team and FSU took advantage of that. Numerous shots by FSU saw the Carolina player way too far off the shooter. I was OK with that.
FSU was able to get to the rim and unlike other games this season converted the shots. The 'Noles were 17 of 30 (57%) inside the arc. Even UNC throwing a 2-3 zone did little to disrupt the FSU offense.
Player of the game: Jamir Watkins with a game high 26 points on 7-12 shooting, 3-6 from downtown, and 9-10 at the FT line. It was 17th time Watkins has scored more than 20 points as a Seminole.
Honorable mention to Jerry Deng with a career high 16 points and tying his career high in 3 pointers made (4).
The play of Alier Maluk who was energetic out there on the floor and made some important contributions. It was his four consecutive points that pulled FSU to within six, 68-62.
Plays of the game: Watkins' three pointer to give FSU a 3-2 lead. The shot clock violation at the 15:48 mark that FSU forced UNC into. Every pass to a Tar Heel had a Seminole defender right there not allowing any space whatsoever to take a shot. Apparently the combination of Bostyn Holt and Maluk looks like it is going to be a good one as Holt lobbed the alley oop to Maluk as he came off the screen roll, 15-15. Malique Ewin puts the ball on the floor and dribbles right around the defender for the two hand jam, 23-19. Ewin with a brilliant zip pass almost completely behind his back as he was double teamed and found Deng in the other corner for the slam dunk, 25-21. The 9-1 run that featured Maluk's mini scoring streak to make it 68-62. OK, it was the opponent's highlight. But that drive to the basket by RJ Davis where he had to twist around the Seminole defender and then flipped it up while falling away from the basket was pretty darn good.
The Bad
FSU now falls to 16-12, 7-10. Coming into the game, UNC had won five straight. Make that 6 straight and their fourth in a row keeping their tournament hopes alive. In those previous three victories, UNC averaged 88.7 ppg. You can readily see what the problem was that cost FSU the win. The FSU defense simply could not stop UNC. With Carolina, you know what you are going to get. A quick tempo and that Carolina secondary break. You can prepare for it, but it is much different when actually playing against it. And FSU simply could not handle the tempo or the break defensively. Too many times the FSU defense was late getting back.
Coming into the game, UNC was 31-1 under Hubert Davis when they shot 50% or better. Make that 32-1.
While UNC shot reasonably well from the outside, 10-26 (39%), the Heels just made mincemeat of the FSU perimeter and interior defense. For the game, UNC converted 69% of their shots inside the arc.
With the scored tied at 39, UNC went on an 8-0 run taking the lead they would not relinquish.
Justin Thomas picking up two fouls in a span of 15 seconds.
The announcer's curse exists as FSU's radio play by play man was regaling listeners with Ewin's prowess at the FT line as he was about to take two freebies. You can pretty much guess what happened next on those two attempts.
The Ugly
Rebounding. OMG!!!! Talk about ugly. UNC has not been good rebounding the ball all season. But against Florida State ..... the 'Noles were outrebounded 35-21. And worse yet was the offensive rebounds (13-4) leading to 24 second chance points for UNC to just a handful for the Seminoles.
Coming out of the locker room saw a less than stellar defensive effort as the Heels had back to back slam dunks, a sloppy FSU turnover, and later after an Elliot Cadeau three from the right wing where no Seminole bothered to even give a token effort at closing him out, Leonard Hamilton had seen enough and called a timeout with FSU trailed 61-47 at the 16:58 mark.
2 .......... as in the total number of steals the FSU defense had tonight. Not exactly the defensive performance you usually get from the team that leads the ACC in steals.
Ewin's injury. To me it looked like his foot slipped out from under him and either his ankle of his foot was injured. Originally he was listed as a probable to return to the game. Which he did. That lasted all of one trip up the floor as he took himself out of the game and went to the locker room a second time.
Chandler Jackson also made a beeline for the locker room in the second period. We all hope that was nothing.
Up Next:
Oh man, does it get tough now especially if Ewin cannot play. Florida State travels to Cameron Indoor to take on the #2 Duke Blue Devils (24-3, 15-1) for a 7 PM tip on Saturday. If you don't know the name Cooper Flagg by now, you have apparently been living under a rock. But of course Duke is not just Cooper. They are loaded with talent. To get a win there would be a major upset.
The Good
For a change, FSU played a strong first half. The 'Noles actually held a leads over the Tar Heels totaling just over 5 minutes of clock time. Holding a lead over UNC is something the previous three opponents of the Heels did not do. It was back and forth over 16:46 of the first half. The two teams were deadlocked at 39 at that point. And despite trailing 49-43 at intermission and by as many as 14 in the second period, FSU was able to close the margin to six, 68-62, with 12:03 to play.
Offense was not the problem in this game as all of the Seminoles' shooting stats were quite good. 54% from the floor, 10-20 (50%) from the arc (how often do we see that from this FSU team?) and 75% from the stripe. The team even did well at sharing and moving the ball recording 16 assists on 27 FGs. North Carolina is not exactly known as a good defensive team and FSU took advantage of that. Numerous shots by FSU saw the Carolina player way too far off the shooter. I was OK with that.
FSU was able to get to the rim and unlike other games this season converted the shots. The 'Noles were 17 of 30 (57%) inside the arc. Even UNC throwing a 2-3 zone did little to disrupt the FSU offense.
Player of the game: Jamir Watkins with a game high 26 points on 7-12 shooting, 3-6 from downtown, and 9-10 at the FT line. It was 17th time Watkins has scored more than 20 points as a Seminole.
Honorable mention to Jerry Deng with a career high 16 points and tying his career high in 3 pointers made (4).
The play of Alier Maluk who was energetic out there on the floor and made some important contributions. It was his four consecutive points that pulled FSU to within six, 68-62.
Plays of the game: Watkins' three pointer to give FSU a 3-2 lead. The shot clock violation at the 15:48 mark that FSU forced UNC into. Every pass to a Tar Heel had a Seminole defender right there not allowing any space whatsoever to take a shot. Apparently the combination of Bostyn Holt and Maluk looks like it is going to be a good one as Holt lobbed the alley oop to Maluk as he came off the screen roll, 15-15. Malique Ewin puts the ball on the floor and dribbles right around the defender for the two hand jam, 23-19. Ewin with a brilliant zip pass almost completely behind his back as he was double teamed and found Deng in the other corner for the slam dunk, 25-21. The 9-1 run that featured Maluk's mini scoring streak to make it 68-62. OK, it was the opponent's highlight. But that drive to the basket by RJ Davis where he had to twist around the Seminole defender and then flipped it up while falling away from the basket was pretty darn good.
The Bad
FSU now falls to 16-12, 7-10. Coming into the game, UNC had won five straight. Make that 6 straight and their fourth in a row keeping their tournament hopes alive. In those previous three victories, UNC averaged 88.7 ppg. You can readily see what the problem was that cost FSU the win. The FSU defense simply could not stop UNC. With Carolina, you know what you are going to get. A quick tempo and that Carolina secondary break. You can prepare for it, but it is much different when actually playing against it. And FSU simply could not handle the tempo or the break defensively. Too many times the FSU defense was late getting back.
Coming into the game, UNC was 31-1 under Hubert Davis when they shot 50% or better. Make that 32-1.
While UNC shot reasonably well from the outside, 10-26 (39%), the Heels just made mincemeat of the FSU perimeter and interior defense. For the game, UNC converted 69% of their shots inside the arc.
With the scored tied at 39, UNC went on an 8-0 run taking the lead they would not relinquish.
Justin Thomas picking up two fouls in a span of 15 seconds.
The announcer's curse exists as FSU's radio play by play man was regaling listeners with Ewin's prowess at the FT line as he was about to take two freebies. You can pretty much guess what happened next on those two attempts.
The Ugly
Rebounding. OMG!!!! Talk about ugly. UNC has not been good rebounding the ball all season. But against Florida State ..... the 'Noles were outrebounded 35-21. And worse yet was the offensive rebounds (13-4) leading to 24 second chance points for UNC to just a handful for the Seminoles.
Coming out of the locker room saw a less than stellar defensive effort as the Heels had back to back slam dunks, a sloppy FSU turnover, and later after an Elliot Cadeau three from the right wing where no Seminole bothered to even give a token effort at closing him out, Leonard Hamilton had seen enough and called a timeout with FSU trailed 61-47 at the 16:58 mark.
2 .......... as in the total number of steals the FSU defense had tonight. Not exactly the defensive performance you usually get from the team that leads the ACC in steals.
Ewin's injury. To me it looked like his foot slipped out from under him and either his ankle of his foot was injured. Originally he was listed as a probable to return to the game. Which he did. That lasted all of one trip up the floor as he took himself out of the game and went to the locker room a second time.
Chandler Jackson also made a beeline for the locker room in the second period. We all hope that was nothing.
Up Next:
Oh man, does it get tough now especially if Ewin cannot play. Florida State travels to Cameron Indoor to take on the #2 Duke Blue Devils (24-3, 15-1) for a 7 PM tip on Saturday. If you don't know the name Cooper Flagg by now, you have apparently been living under a rock. But of course Duke is not just Cooper. They are loaded with talent. To get a win there would be a major upset.
