FSU Basketball Suffers Disappointing Road Loss to Cal, 77-68

This was not a great start to the West Coast trip for the Seminoles.

Florida State University Head Coach Leonard Hamilton at the game with Clemson during the first half at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C Saturday, January 11, 2025. / Ken Ruinard - staff / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Florida State started a two-game West Coast trip on Wednesday against the California Golden Bears, looking to extend a recent winning streak to three. Before the game, Cal's leading scorer, Andrej Stojakovic, would be out for the game with the flu. That should've been an advantage for FSU, but Cal came to play.

The Golden Bears came out with great energy, relentlessly attacking the offensive glass, beating the Seminoles up the floor in transition, and smoking FSU's perimeter defense off the dribble. Even once Florida State fixed their perimeter defense, Cal was dominating on the offensive glass, and then Jamir Watkins and Malique Ewin got into foul trouble.

That got Cal out to a lead as large as 10 in the first eight minutes of the game, but FSU climbed their way back into it on a 7-0 run. After a few back-and-forth minutes, the 'Noles even took a brief lead again before halftime as Daquan Davis hit a transition layup, but Ewin and Watkins being on the bench would be too much for the final three minutes of the half.

At halftime, with Cal leading 37-33, they had 15 OFFENSIVE rebounds, but those only led to six second-chance points. With how poorly FSU was playing, a four-point deficit was somehow a blessing.

Jamir Watkins wanted to set the tone in the second half, scoring eight early points as the Seminoles tied the game at 49 seven minutes into the second half. But he and Malique Ewin picked up their third and fourth fouls around this time, putting them on the bench for the time being. It'd be tough for FSU to overcome both of them being out, but they treaded water initially, even designing a beautiful baseline inbound play to take a 51-49 lead, but Cal responded with a 12-2 run to go back in front by eight with 7:30 to go.

Ewin and Watkins were re-inserted around here, but it didn't matter initially, as a few layups and point-blank shots spun off the front of the rim. That allowed Cal to go up by 12 and effectively put the game out of reach. FSU could get it down to six in the final few minutes, but Cal would go on to win 77-68.

Jamir Watkins had 18 points and eight rebounds to lead FSU, followed closely by Malique Ewin with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Both teams ended with more than 20 offensive rebounds, but FSU shot just 16/32 on LAYUPS. Inexcusable.

Cal had five players in double-figures, led by Jeremiah Wilkinson's 18 points. Mady Sissoko (14 points, 12 rebounds), Joshua Ola-Joseph (14 points), Rytis Petraitis (12 points, 13 total rebounds, eight offensive rebounds), and DJ Campbell (11 points) helped lift Cal to the win.

Florida State plays at Stanford on Saturday, which could be classified as a must-win. This was just a Q2 loss for the Seminoles so it doesn't kill them, but it's certainly not great.

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1. Horrific Transition Defense

Florida State's transition defense cost them this game. They got beat down on the floor on multiple occasions, leading to _ fastbreak points for Cal, _% of their total points. Rytis Petraitis specifically did a great job of pushing the tempo for Cal. Losing a game based on effort is inexcusable, and it can't happen again moving forward for FSU.

2. Foul Trouble for Malique Ewin and Jamir Watkins

This has become a theme in ACC play. Ewin and Watkins just cannot stay out of foul trouble. Some of them are unnecessary and dumb, and they really cost this team. Florida State doesn't have enough consistent offense when these two aren't in the game, especially when Chandler Jackson is out with an injury.

3. Mady Sissoko Dominated This Game

Mady Sissoko is just an okay player normally, but his fingerprints were all over this game, finishing with 12 points, 12 rebounds, and five blocks. He was patrolling the paint for Cal, keeping it difficult for Florida State to get anything on the interior. I said FSU needed to shoot at least 50% inside the arc in this game, and they shot just 47.5% inside the arc, including going 16/32 on layups alone. Hard to win games like that.

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