Melina Myers
No. 6 FSU Throttles No. 11 Louisville, Leads ACC
In case you haven't heard, FSU hosted Louisville Monday night, in perhaps the biggest game (so far) this year for both teams as they were locked in a 3-way tie with Duke. The FSU-UL winner would keep alive their chances for the mythical regular-season title and, more importantly, the top seed in the ACCT. A Seminole victory maintains their tie with Duke and a virtual two-game lead over Louisville. A Cardinal victory would give them a one-game lead over FSU and a statistical claim to the top spot due to their owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over Duke. Both teams came into the game fully aware of this and sought to let the fans enjoy the hype while they stayed cool, calm, and ready to play ball.
But the Seminole faithful went home happy for the 22nd straight time, as Florida State came back from a double-digit second-half deficit to hammer Louisville again, 82-67.
The game followed nearly the same script as most of FSU's games. The 'Noles struggled a bit early, losing the three-point lottery; they weren't finishing at the rim, and the defense was struggling. At the half, FSU was fortunate to be down only eight. UL stretched its lead to 12 early in the second half, but after that it was all FSU.
Florida State attacked the basket much better in the second half, getting numerous easy baskets and foul calls. Louisville's pack-line defense looked more like a straight man-to-man at times and M.J. Walker, RaiQuan Gray, Patrick Williams, and Trent Forrest feasted on it, driving past their man and getting to the basket for easy finishes.
The biggest change of the second half was the defense. FSU's switching defense has sometimes been frustrating to watch this year. It's been prone to giving up dribble penetration, particularly against small, quick guards. In the first half Louisville continually had success against the defense by driving to their right, just as most teams that have had some success.
I've repeatedly made the point that FSU needs to add two things to this defense. First is to overplay the ball handler's right side and force him to his left. (I'm saving the other for a later article.) And in the second half FSU was fantastic about not letting the ball handler go to his right to get to the lane. The overplay forced the ball handler back to his left where his teammate was standing along with another defender. The ballhandler didn't want to split the defenders and it was a long way around the four guys to drive into the lane left-handed. This, to me, was the key to success in the second half.
What went right:
The second half defense. Without the halftime adjustments and FSU executing them beautifully, Louisville goes home victorious. At one point Louisville was shooting over 61% in the first half but ended the game at 42%. They were also shooting over 50% from deep but finished the game at 23%. Nwora, Louisville's "as Nwora goes so go the Cardinals" player, finished the game with 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting. He was blanked after the break.
Attacking the basket in the second half. FSU was able to get past the first defender and Louisville had no answer once the initial defender was beaten. Easy buckets and the fouls on Louisville started to add up. No Cardinal fouled out, but the game end with four fouls on four different Cards.
Foul trouble. Gray picked up a late foul to end the game with four, but no other Seminole had more than two.
Star Power. Otto Petty was in attendance and was given a cameo. He's nearly 70 now, but still a favorite of many that saw him play. Greg Grady was also in attendance, but Greg was able to enjoy the game as a fan. There were even rumors of a Hugh Durham sighting. But the real star court-side was Billy Murray. Murray has a family member who's an assistant coach for the Cardinals and has been seen at several Louisville games.
What didn't:
The first half. FSU fans were rightfully nervous, as time and time again the 'Noles looked to be in a position to score only to have the shot bounce, clang, or miss everything. Florida State had nine turnovers in the half, but both teams had a lot of long possessions, so that nine was quite bad.
The referees. Walker had was running down the left sideline, looking back for a pass for a possible breakaway basket. The referee was running down the same sideline not looking anywhere. Walker ran into the ref and landed oddly on his ankle. He grabbed the ref to soften his fall, but it was clear that he was in a lot of pain as he laid on the ground a long time before hobbling off to the dressing room. He did return and played well. (If you thought that I was going to fuss about some of the whistles, well, another time...)
There really isn't much in that second half to dislike, as Florida State outscored Louisville 50-27 after the break.
Wrapping it up:
FSU has another Q1 win, this time over a very good, ranked team. The Seminoles beat the spread and won by more than 15, so the fans, computers, and bracketologists are happy. In doing so they've solidified their grip on a 2-seed in the NCAAT. The 'Noles are now atop the conference standings, at 24-4 and 14-3, and with only three games left to play, FSU is assured of a double bye in the ACCT.
