The Daily Nole

FSU Grinds Out 73-68 Victory Over Louisville

Clint Eiland/The Daily Nole

The Florida State Seminoles grabbed another ranked win with a 73-68 victory over the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.

An intense start from FSU brought the Tucker Civic Center to its feet early on. Before the clock even hit 18 minutes, FSU was up 9-0 and Louisville was forced to call a timeout to regroup. From there on, it was largely a dogfight. Louisville became more aggressive on both ends of the floor, and largely did outclass FSU for the rest of the first half. Despite the Cardinals’ resurgence, FSU held a small 41-35 lead heading into the locker rooms.

The story didn’t change much heading into the second. Neither team’s game plan was radically altered, as FSU (18-2, 6-1 ACC) kept having to rely on its starters and Louisville had to try and attack the basket to score. Whether or not it was great defense or bad offense is still in the air.

Neither team shot above 40 percent as a whole, and both shot below 70 percent at the free throw line. Either way, it came down to the final few minutes, where Louisville (16-4, 4-3 ACC) at one point was a single basket away from taking the lead. It never happened, as FSU was able to hold the lead for the rest of the contest.

Observations

  • Think FSU was hungover after a big Notre Dame win? Think again. The Seminoles led 14-0 in the first three minutes
  • Louisville could not get shots off in the early going. The Cardinals kept having to settle for outside jumpers, and that’s clearly not their game.
  • Once Louisville started attacking the basket, the offense began to get into a rhythm. At about the 12-minute mark, it had closed the gap to 19-12.
  • Florida state began to get trigger happy in the middle of the first half, taking shots that clearly weren’t in rhythm.
  • FSU coach Leonard Hamilton put in Christ Koumadje for a few possessions to see what effect he had. He was a positive force on offense, but he struggled defending at the rim against the Louisville guards. That changed after half, but it was noticeable early on.
  • Ultimately however, it was the Louisville defense that got the Cardinals back in the game. They began to put more pressure on the perimeter, and FSU struggled inside.
  • Terance Mann proved to be a difficult match-up for the Louisville guards. He was more physical and vertical than they seemed prepared for.
  • Neither offense had much to write home about at halftime. The Cardinals were shooting 39 percent compared to Florida State’s 34 percent. One interesting tidbit: the Louisville bench was outscoring FSU’s bench, 21-4.
  • FSU center Michael Ojo seemed to have more of an impact this contest than previous ones. Louisville had trouble neutralizing his presence.
  • It became clear that FSU was going to have to rely on its starters to carry the offensive load. For whatever reason, FSU’s main bench players (Jarquez Smith, Phil Cofer, C.J. Walker, P.J. Savoy) struggled mightily against the Louisville defense. The Seminoles benched only scored 11, compared to Louisville’s 40.
  • Phil Cofer just has not found his place on this team yet. He makes far too many mental errors to get as many minutes as he does. It’s a shame too, as FSU could use a big man with his skill set. For the game Saturday, the Cardinals outrebounded FSU 43-40 and a outscored FSU in the paint, 40-30.
  • An odd sequence occurred around the 10-minute mark when FSU got called for an over and back. From then on, both teams began to seemingly rush their offenses up court to try and regain momentum. It was a spectacle to see the players as aggressive as they were, as well as the crowd getting into it.
  • Louisville kept having to chase FSU when it came to scoring. The Cardinals played like it too, as FSU didn’t want to take risky shots, while Louisville started unleashing them.
  • The game got close at the end because of poor offense from FSU. Louisville did a great job of pressuring the FSU guards/forwards, and since the Seminoles didn’t have a reliable post presence (Koumadje fouled out), they had no outlet.
  • Free throws matter. Jonathan Isaac and Dwayne Bacon hit all four of their attempts in the final minute, which was ultimately what helped FSU pull out the victory.

Notable Numbers

Jonathan Isaac (FSU): 16 points (4-for-7), 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 assists

Dwayne Bacon (FSU): 16 points (6-for-17), 3 rebounds, 2 assists

Terance Mann (FSU): 15 points (6-for-10), 3 rebounds, 2 blocks

Tony Hicks (LOU): 16 points (6-for-17), 3 rebounds

Mangok Mathiang (LOU): 13 points (5-for-6), 13 rebounds, 2 blocks

Quotes

Dwayne Bacon on FSU’s start to ACC play: “It was very fun just because nobody thought we would be in this situation, in this stretch. Nobody thought we would be top 10 in the country, nobody thought we would go 5-1 in the six games against six ranked teams, nobody thought we would have the record we have today…but we believed in ourselves, our coaches believed in ourselves…”

Terance Mann on responding to adversity: “It’s just our team, everyone likes each other, everyone wants to play for each other, so when we see a team come back, we look at each other like ‘yeah, let’s go’ and everybody just turns it on”.

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