FSU Basketball falls on the road at Virginia in tight contest, 60-57

Florida State played its last ACC road game of the season on Tuesday night as they traveled to Charlottesville to take on the Virginia Cavaliers. This was an important game for ACC Tournament seeding, as both teams entered the game 7-11 in ACC play and in a tie for 10th.

This was also Leonard Hamilton's final ACC road game as a head coach. Could they get out of John Paul Jones Arena with a win?

Malique Ewin missed his second game in a row as he dealt with an issue with his foot. That left Alier Maluk as the starting center for FSU, and he had the first two buckets of the game for the Seminoles. But Virginia was losing FSU's defense behind the arc, as they knocked down three shots beyond the arc in the first six minutes, which gave them the advantage for a decent chunk of the first half.

FSU was finding a lot of success with their bigs leaking out in transition or slipping on screens, which allowed Christian Nitu to have six early points as FSU regained the lead 16-13. That would be the first of six lead changes over the next few possessions, as both teams showed some life on offense, but FSU kept losing track of UVA behind the arc.

What Florida State was doing well was relentlessly attacking the glass. Usually, it's the other way around and they're getting smoked on the glass, but they were giving themselves some extra life by getting after the offensive boards. At the half, FSU led the rebounding battle 20-13 with seven offensive rebounds, and the game 28-27.

Mar 4, 2025; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Florida State Seminoles forward Alier Maluk (21) dunks the ball in the first half against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena. Mandatory Credit: Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn Images | Emily Faith Morgan-Imagn Images

Virginia had a strong start to the second half, outscoring FSU 11-3 in the first few minutes and generating a few wide-open looks from three. Florida State started to chip away at the lead, as Jamir Watkins finally got some shots to fall, but there were a couple of near-costly swings midway through the half.

Justin Thomas missed an and-one free throw, but Jamir Watkins came down with the offensive rebound and went right back up through UVA's Elijah Saunders. A shooting foul was called, but after a review, a flagrant foul was called on Jamir Watkins. He'd go 1/2 on his shots, and UVA went 2/2 on theirs. The second came when Thomas stole the ball near halfcourt but missed the layup in transition, and then a loose ball foul was called on Watkins on the rebound. That could've cut the lead to one.

Despite all of that, the 'Noles were still able to go on a 10-2 run to give them a brief lead before the under-eight timeout. Virginia got a bucket and then came out of the timeout in a zone, but Taylor Bol Bowen hit a three over the zone to retake the lead. Elijah Saunders answered with a three for Virginia, though.

That wasn't the last of the lead changes. Daquan Davis hit a clutch corner three after an offensive rebound with around four minutes to go as the shot clock was expiring, giving them a 52-50 lead at the final media timeout. After Jamir Watkins went 1/2 at the line, Saunders hit a three in transition to tie the game at 53. The two teams would trade buckets again and be tied at 55 with two minutes left.

FSU missed on their next possession, and then Andrew Rohde hit a three while falling out of bounds with the shot clock expiring with 59 seconds remaining. The Seminoles played perfect defense, and it didn't matter on that shot. On the next possession, Jamir Watkins air-balled a deep stepback three with plenty of time on the shot clock. Was not a great shot attempt, to say the least.

The Seminoles got a steal and slam to get it back within one, but that would be as close as it got again. Down three with 3.3 seconds to go, an offensive foul was called on Jerry Deng on the inbound, and that would be it, with Virginia winning 60-57.

Jamir Watkins led FSU with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Christian Nitu had a career-high 8 points, as did Alier Maluk.

Virginia was led in scoring by Dai Dai Ames with 18 points, followed by Andre Rohde with 17 and Elijah Saunders with 12. FSU held Isaac McKneely to 9 points on 3/11 shooting.

Florida State returns home for its final regular season game of the season against SMU on Saturday. They're calling it Leonard Hamilton Day, honoring the legend in his final game in Tallahassee.

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