FSU builds huge lead, holds on for a narrow road victory over Pittsburgh

Florida State (16-14, 9-8) dominated the Pittsburgh Panthers (11-19, 4-13) for the first 23 minutes of this one, opening up a 24 point lead and seemingly able to execute any offense they desired. But the shots stopped falling and the Seminoles withstood a furious Pitt rally on the Panthers Senior Night. In the end, FSU found a way to make just enough plays at both ends to walk away with a 75-74 victory. The win assures FSU of at least a .500 record in ACC play for Coach Loucks’ first season, quite an accomplishment after beginning conference play 0-5.

First Half

The game started off with the Hurricanes making enough free throws down the stretch to hold off a late charge from SMU—oh wait, that’s the other game we were forced to watch because TV executives still cannot fathom that college basketball games take longer than two hours. When the feed finally switched over to FSU, the Seminoles led 13-8 at the under-16. The boxscore tells me that 6 of those 13 points came at the rim by way of a Thomas Bassong layup and two A.J. Swinton dunks.

Chauncey Wiggins kept the momentum going with five straight points, and then Bassong and Swinton continued to impress. Swinton drilled a three before Bassong blocked a three at the other end, then ran the floor, was rewarded with a great lookahead pass from Martin Somerville, and then finished with authority. That dunk gave FSU a 12 point lead, 20-8.

Pitt didn’t roll over a quit, though. The Panthers cut the deficit in half with a 6-0 run that included a big dunk by former ‘Nole Cam Corhen. Lajae Jones said anything you can do I can do better, ending the run with a filthy two-handed slam after driving straight down Main Street, pushing the lead back to 22-14. Pitt cut the lead back to five thanks to offensive rebounding and in that same sequence FSU’s Swinton went down with a bad looking leg injury. It looked like it could be a turning point for Pittsburgh. However, Robert McCray V and the Seminoles weren’t having any of it.

A quick 5-0 run pushed the lead right back to double-digits. The two teams played some back-and-forth ball for a few minutes before McCray V assisted Bassong on a nifty layup and then hit a deep three on the subsequent possession to push the margin out to 12, 34-22. One possession later, Somerville drilled a three of his own and suddenly the Seminoles led by 15. The lead would grow as large as 18 after McCray V finished a driving layup with 28 seconds left, but Pitt went on a 5-0 burst aided by a technical on Somerville for encouraging his teammate. The basketball gods made up for the weak T, as Cam Miles banked in a 40 footer as the first half horn sounded.

For the half, FSU scored 1.39 points per possession, making 8-14 from deep, and leading for over 19 minutes. Pitt was only as close as 16 thanks to 9 made free throws and a bevy of offensive rebounds.

Second Half

Out of the locker room, Florida State did exactly what you’d want to see: they came out swinging. The Seminoles used suffocating defense and high execution offense to stun Pitt with an 8-0 burst, opening up a 54-30 lead less than two minutes into the half. At that point in the game, FSU was shooting 10-16 from deep, while the Panthers were just 1-12. But Loucks’ team weren’t able to finish Pitt off when they had them on the ropes. The Panthers cut the margin down to 19 by the under-16, with Barry Dunning scoring 7 of Pitt’s 9 quick points. Feeling the momentum, Pittsburgh went back to their first half recipe for success utilizing offensive rebounds and turnovers to generate easy looks inside. By the time Dunning hit a corner three with 11 minutes remaining, FSU’s lead was down to just nine, 60-51.

Jones finally ended the 16-2 Pitt run with three-points the old fashioned way. But Dunning, a career 31% three point shooter, made his third triple of the half to cut right back to single digits. The margin hung around 9-11 points for about four minutes of play, though FSU missed several opportunities to stretch it back out to 13 or 14 with missed shots at the rim. Dunning then continued his dream Senior Night, making his 4th three of the half and 5th of the game, cutting the margin to 6, 67-61. Cam Corhen followed up with a pair of free throws and FSU looked completely frazzled. All the shots that were falling, all the crisp passes, all the disruption on defense, disappeared into the Oakland Zoo.

At the under-4 media timeout, FSU had gone 5:37 without making a field goal, bricking dunks, open corner threes, and everything in between. At the other end, a familiar scene was playing out with FSU’s defense seemingly unable to stop a single player from going off, as Dunning had 18 points on 7-9 shooting in 17 second half minutes.

The 68-63 score remained locked on the scoreboard from the 5:07 mark to 50.6 seconds, as a once free flowing game ground to a halt. Finally, Jones knocked down a corner three to put FSU up by a much more comfortable 8 point margin. But the comfort didn’t last long as Pitt raced down to the court and countered with a three of their own, making the score 71-66 with 44 seconds left. It looked for a moment like Pitt had FSU in trouble with a corner trap, but Somerville was strong with the ball, found Miles along the baseline, who launched it downcourt to Wiggins who was waiting under the basket for a dunk.

Unfortunately, the next in-bounds didn’t go as well. After a pair of Pitt free throws cut the lead back to five, Cam Miles turned the ball over to give the Panthers the ball back and they took advantage with a three point bullseye. FSU’s lead was down to 73-71 with 9.7 seconds remaining. Enter McCray V. The senior drilled two free throws to give FSU a 75-71 lead with 5.9 seconds left. Pitt would make a desperation three with 1 second left, but it only mattered for the gamblers.

Chief of the Court – Robert McCray V. Sure, he was only 4-16 from the field. But the senior made important plays when they mattered with the two free throws at the end being the biggest. His 6 boards and 6 assists were huge too.
For whatever reason, FSU has been much better on the road this season than at home. Much of that road success is due to shooting success. Coming into this game, the ‘Noles were shooting 36.3% from deep in ACC road games compared to 27.8% in league home games (worst in the conference). Making things worse, opponents are shooting 38.6% from three against FSU in Tallahassee. This win gives FSU a 6-3 mark on the road league play this year, which is the most ACC road wins for a Seminoles team since they went 6-3 in the 2019-2020 season.
From a metrics standpoint, this was a missed opportunity. Pull off a 20-30 point road win when you are basically a pick’em and that would rocket you up the KenPom, Torvik, and NET ranks. But truthfully, the metrics don’t really matter much anymore for this year’s team. What does matter is setting a foundation for what kind of culture will be established and expected in the Luke Loucks era and wins like this are fantastic for doing just that. Just about nothing went the Seminoles’ way over the final 15 minutes of the game, but the players battled and scratched and clawed their way to a win. Learning how to win is a skill just like dribbling and shooting, and pulling out games like this is part of that development for youngsters like Somerville, Bassong, and Miles.

Up Next

The Seminoles return home for Senior Day against the SMU Mustangs. One of two ACC opponents the ‘Noles play twice this season, FSU dropped a hard fought battle in Dallas 83-80 on January 24th. Florida State compiled a phenomenal Senior Day record under Coach Ham, going 19-4 in his career and winning 10 of his last 11. Luke Loucks, who won his Senior Day 80-72 over Clemson, will be looking to follow in his mentor’s footsteps.

The game tips at 2:00pm on Saturday, March 7.

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