by Bill from Tampa
After Sunday night’s tepid (at best) offensive performance, Florida State hoped to have a better offensive outing against Ohio State. Offensive is what FSU fans got.
Not that it would have been easy what with playing the second ranked team in the country. But the ‘Noles didn’t get that hoped for improvement in having their worst scoring game this season, losing to the Buckeyes 58-44.
Then again it wasn’t a good shooting night for anybody on either team. Part of that certainly was due to two very good defenses.
For FSU it was the 10 blocked shots (four by Bernard James) that swatted away numerous near point-blank shots by the Buckeyes.
On the flip side it was the 22 turnovers by the Seminoles, some unforced, created by Ohio State's in your face kind of defense.
What disappointed Leonard Hamilton was the timing and type of turnovers.
Poised to make a comeback and possibly take the lead after being down by as much as 17 points, 40-23, key turnovers down the stretch turned into easy run outs or free throws for the Bucks.
Another FSU miscue resulted in another lost possession for the ‘Noles.
“If there is one positive I can take from this game is those are correctable," Hamilton said.
Chris Singleton, 8 points, scored his only basket of the second half by stealing the ball and taking it the distance for FSU’s last points of the game. But down 55-44 and only 1:13 left did not leave enough time for any miracle comeback.
FSU started the game ice cold, shooting just 26% with just six baskets for the first half.
“In the first half we got good looks," Hamilton said. “In the second half we did better but we had too many turnovers. We just need to grow and mature and shots will go down.”
“We may need to condense the playbook.”
OSU was not much better with 36%, but they held a 28-17 lead at intermission.
Ohio State went on a bit of a mini run to start the second half leading up to the 40-25 margin at the 14:15 mark.
That’s when the Buckeyes pounding the ball inside was met with FSU’s block party, preventing what could have turned the game in to a blowout, while Ian Miller had a potentially breakout game scoring 9 of his 11 points over the next 6:40.
Miller’s basket plus the foul, getting William Buford to pick up his fifthl, shrunk the lead into single digits, 59-48, setting up Dulky’s three pointer.
The Seminoles, as they did Sunday, were more efficient in the second half, improving their shooting percentage for the game to 35%.
FSU’s signature tenacious defense held the Buckeyes to 32% for the game. However freshman sensation Jared Sullinger notched his third double double of the season with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Ohio State never trailed in the game jumping out to a 7-0 lead before Derwin Kitchen scored FSU’s first six points.
Kitchen was the only other Seminole in double figures with 10 points. Diebler led OSU with 12 points and David Lighty added 10.
Lamenting the lack of practice with so many games early in the season, Hamilton gets to have his team put in some practice time before taking on Hartford Sunday night. Tipoff is at 7:00 PM. The game will be aired on Sun Sports.
Comments