Upsets of highly-ranked teams at the Donald L. Tucker Center has become a theme for Florida State basketball under head coach Leonard Hamilton. On this day 15 years ago came a second upset in four days against a top-10 team.
Led by future perennial NBA All-Star guard Chris Paul, sharpshooting Justin Gray and powerful Eric Williams, Wake Forest arrived in Tallahassee on Jan. 25, 2004 ranked 10th in the country. The Seminoles were three days removed from overcoming a 24-point deficit in an overtime upset of No. 7 North Carolina.
By the time that Sunday afternoon ended, the Demon Deacons were the latest victim of a much-improved FSU team under the then second-year coach Hamilton, 75-70. Tim Pickett would again have a monster game for the Seminoles despite being held scoreless in the first half.
Despite their top scorer putting up a goose egg, FSU trailed by just one at the break, 37-36. Nate Johnson and Adam Waleskowski kept the Seminoles afloat in the first half as Johnson connected on all four of his 3-point attempts and Waleskowski chipped in with 12 points.
With just over nine minutes to play, Wake enjoyed a 63-55 lead before Pickett came to life down the stretch. Pickett scored five straight points and nine of the final 18 points for FSU in the contest.
After a layup by Pickett with 1:20 left cut the lead to one, guard Todd Galloway would put FSU ahead for good on a pair of free throws with 45 second left to make it 71-70. Williams and Taron Downey both missed shots on the other end for the Demon Deacons.
After a pair of free throws by Waleskowski extended the lead to three, Gray’s tying triple went awry. Pickett iced the game with a pair of foul shots as FSU closed the contest on an 8-0 run.
Wake Forest missed its final six shots, going without a field goal for the last 4:23 of the contest. Wake Forest turned the ball over 18 times in the loss. Paul finished with 17 points in the loss while Kyle Visser finished with 12 and scored Wake’s last field goal before fouling out. Eric Williams finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Nate Johnson paced the Seminoles with 19 points while Pickett scored all 18 of his points in the second half. Waleskowski scored 16 points on an efficient 5-for-6 shooting. He also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
The victory snapped a 7-game losing streak to Wake Forest and served as the third of four victories that the Seminoles would record over ranked teams that season. It came on this day 15 years ago.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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