As most know by now, Florida State’s 12-game winning streak and undefeated start to ACC play is over. On Saturday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina used a late 14-2 run to pull away from the Seminoles in a 96-83 victory for the Tar Heels.
Finding things that went wrong wasn’t hard. Florida State left plenty of points on the court, shooting just 12-for-26 from the free throw line. That 46.2 percent mark from the charity stripe was actually worse than FSU shot from the field (46.3 percent).
For the first time in ACC play, the Seminoles lost the battle on the glass. Given that North Carolina came in as the conference’s top rebounding team, that wasn’t a huge surprise, but the differential might have been. The Tar Heels corralled 56 rebounds to FSU’s 34, which included 21 offensive rebounds. Those offensive rebounds led to 28 second-chance points for North Carolina.
FSU also committed 15 turnovers — a new high this season in ACC play. Turnovers led to 19 North Carolina points.
There are several other small things that can be pointed to during Saturday’s loss. It’s hard to tell shot-blockers not to be aggressive, but there were times where FSU’s bigs seemed too overzealous, which led to easy put-backs for North Carolina. Crashing too hard on the offensive glass also led to run-outs on more than one occasion.
So, with all these negatives, what was the overriding positive? It’s simple: FSU is capable of playing with the best teams in the country.
On a day where so much went wrong, Florida State was still in it up until the final North Carolina run. With 4:41 to play, the Seminoles trailed by only four and had two free throws with a chance to cut the lead in half. Unfortunately, FSU guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes missed both which sparked the Tar Heel flurry to close things out, but for 35-plus minutes, the Seminoles were right there with a championship-caliber team on the road.
Perhaps more admirable was the way that Florida State kept counter-punching. There were several times on Saturday where it looked like FSU might get run out of the building, but the Seminoles dug in and hung tough.
FSU watched North Carolina score the game’s first seven points and lead by as many as nine in the first half before tying the game at 37. After trailing by 11 on two separate occasions in the second half, Florida State was able to get as close as three with under eight minutes to play.
Make no mistake about Saturday’s game and the better team winning. It certainly did.
Though there were a number of things that the Seminoles could have done to improve their chances, winning on the glass and speeding teams up is what North Carolina does. While FSU also likes to push the basketball, the Tar Heels had the edge in fast break points, 14-12.
What FSU was able to do on Saturday is prove that its hot start was no fluke. Being able to go into a hostile environment like the “Dean Dome” and hang with someone with the basketball pedigree of the Tar Heels in a highly-anticipated game was admirable and impressive.
Since 2000, North Carolina has won two national championships and appeared in the Final Four five times, including just last season. FSU has advanced to the Sweet 16 just once in more than two decades. While it’s unlikely that those pedigrees will flip in the coming years, Florida State may have as good a team as it has in 20 years and for at least a season, it can be on par with the national powers. That’s something FSU fans should not take for granted.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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