Seminoles chop up Wahoos in dominating performance

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No. 16 Florida State 81, No. 7 Virginia 60

The newly minted No. 7 team in the country, Virginia, got boat raced by a ranked team — again.

No. 16 Florida State pounded the Wahoos on Monday night at the Tucker Center. It was a much-anticipated matchup that fell flat on its face. Defending ACC regular-season champion FSU led nearly wire to wire.

The Seminoles (12-3, 8-2 ACC) extended their conference home winning streak to 23 games, which is the second-longest streak after Duke won 26 in a row at Cameron Indoor Stadium from 1997-2000. FSU has two home games left: versus Virginia Tech on Saturday and versus Boston College on March 3, so it will have to wait to try and tie and then break the Blue Devils’ record next season.

The Cavaliers (15-4, 11-2) fell to 1-3 against top 25 teams. That’s not good news, but the worst part is the team they beat, Clemson, is long gone from the polls, though the Tigers have seemed to stabilize after losing four of five. Meanwhile, all the teams the ‘Hoos have lost to are still ranked, and each setback was by double digits, with two blowouts.

Photo: Raiquan Gray looks to drive by Sam Hauser.

After the win over North Carolina, Virginia coach Tony Bennett said his team had a good opportunity to test its seemingly improving defense against FSU.

The Wahoos definitely failed that test.

The Seminoles, who are known more for their defense, length, and physicality but actually lead the ACC in points per game and 3-point shooting percentage, shot 50% from the field and 54.2% from beyond the arc (13 for 24). They displayed excellent ball movement, and I lost count of how many times Virginia left shooters open.

The ‘Noles are balanced as well. For years, they have been known for their depth, and coach Leonard Hamilton isn’t shy about reaching deep into his bench. Despite scoring 81 points, only two players touched double figures, M.J. Walker with 17 points and Raiquan Gray with 15. Eight other players scored between 3 and 9 points.

Walker went 5 for 6 from downtown and added six rebounds and a steal. Gray tallied five boards, three assists, and two steals. Sardaar Calhoun went 2 for 3 on 3-pointers. Freshman phenom Scottie Barnes was limited to 7 points, but he dished out six assists while adding two rebounds and two steals.

Virginia was not terrible on offense. It shot 46.8% from the field and 39.1% from beyond the arc (9 for 23). Still, the offense does not have the firepower it once had, perhaps a sign of playing a softer ACC schedule early. In their first seven conference games, the ‘Hoos averaged 72.4 points. In their past five, they are at 60.8 ppg. We know they are capable of winning low-scoring games, but it’s less likely than last season since the defense is not as good.

Trey Murphy III led the team with 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting, including 2 for 3 from 3-point range. His monstrous dunk off a nice lob pass from Tomas Woldetensae had some serious power fueling it. In a full John Paul Jones Arena during a closer game, that absolutely would’ve brought the house down. Murphy added five rebounds and three assists.

Kihei Clark had 12 points on effective 5-for-7 shooting while adding four rebounds, three assists, and a steal. He had three turnovers.

FSU led 45-25 at the break, but Clark did his best to will the team back into contention early in the second half by driving to the hoop multiple times and trying to make plays. The Wahoos even got a bit lucky, too, as an errant Clark pass still wound up in the hands of Reece Beekman, who found Murphy for a 3 that cut the margin to 48-41 with 14:25 left.

“You always point to the offense, and yes we were aggressive, Kihei made some plays, we touched the paint,” Bennett said of the Wahoos’ rally. “But our defense really stepped up in terms of we were back, and we didn’t let them in the lane, we guarded the ball, and we were inspired.”

For a minute, visions of Virginia’s 2019 comeback at Louisville danced in my head. But the Seminoles answered with a 20-2 run over the next six minutes, and the game was over. That’s what great teams do. They have answers, and the ‘Noles came up with plenty of them, one of which may have included an arm-bar when Gray bullied Hauser to the basket to make it 55-43. I’m just sayin’. (More on the referee gripes later.)

“Every time we made a breakdown, they would bang a 3, or they get down the floor,” Bennett said. “Barnes is for real with how quickly he can get to the lane, but we didn’t help ourselves, and that was the frustrating thing. And Gray was really good tonight.”

Sam Hauser recorded 11 points on 3-for-7 shooting, including 2 for 5 beyond the arc. He chipped in five rebounds and a steal, but also had two turnovers, including an early one when things started to go south.

Woldetensae came in off the bench and had a strong offensive game, with 12 points on 3-for-4 shooting from deep. In a span of a little more than two minutes late in the first half, he had a 2-point jumper, a 3-pointer, and a steal that led to a Jay Huff alley-oop off a pass from Clark. However, Woldetensae also fouled Anthony Polite on a baseline jumper that Polite made, causing a 3-point play, then later lost track of him and gave up an easy layup.

Huff had a rough game with 4 points on 2-for-6 shooting, missing all three of his 3-point attempts. He had his usual two blocks, but only two rebounds, and recorded three turnovers.

Beekman had a tough day offensively, scoring zero points. He missed all four of his attempts (one 3) and did not get to the free throw line. However, he did have three assists and no turnovers, and Val referenced his solid defense on Barnes in his article.

Justin McKoy tallied 5 points, the first time he scored since Jan. 30 at Virginia Tech. He hit his first 3-pointer since the Gonzaga game. He also had two boards in six minutes.

Casey Morsell posted 3 points, two rebounds, and two assists. He had a nice half-court drive all the way to the rack around FSU’s defense, and he was able to avoid the block attempt and make the layup.

At the end of the game, Bennett emptied his bench and that included … Kody Stattmann. It was good to see the Aussie back on the floor for the first time since Dec. 1. It is uncertain whether he can contribute in a meaningful way at this point in the season, but I was happy for him. I hope he can continue his basketball career and be productive, whether at Virginia or elsewhere.

Despite decent shooting, UVa had 13 turnovers compared to only five for FSU. The Seminoles also won the rebounding battle, 30-24.

FSU has one of the tallest teams in the country, and the Seminoles are big, too, like they always seem to be. (Seriously, where does Hamilton find these guys? Are they grown in a secret laboratory?) The Cavaliers did not rise to the physical challenge. At times, it seemed like they shied away from contact or had a chance to go up for a shot only to second-guess themselves. FSU straight up out-toughed them.

With that said, on a few occasions, especially during the Seminoles’ early run, Bennett got upset when fouls were not called on the Seminoles, and he had a right to be furious on a few of them. Namely, Murphy got fouled, possibly twice, on one of his dunk attempts, and Morsell got hacked after a rebound and turned the ball over, which led to a 3-pointer.

I am not a fan that usually likes to blame the referees. I’d rather criticize the team for what it can control and not focus on what it can’t control. (It also makes me angrier to think about the calls, so I choose not to.) But it is worth calling out the obvious misses. I don’t think more calls on the Seminoles would have mattered in the final result, but the game likely would have been closer. Had a couple more calls gone the Cavaliers’ way in the first half, perhaps they could have trimmed the margin to 3 points instead of just 7 in the second half. That’s a whole new ballgame.

But even when the Wahoos did get to the free throw line, they struggled, making just 7 of 12. That’s two straight games that they have shot uncharacteristically poorly at the stripe, so hopefully they can straighten that out. Clark (2 for 5), who is shooting 70% at the line after being above 80% his first two seasons, was responsible for three of the misses.

The game started out smoothly enough. Murphy and Hauser hit treys to stake out a 6-2 lead. But by the 6:16 mark, it was 33-13 FSU. It’s tough to chronicle all of what went wrong, but here were a few things in what ended up being a dreadful 10 minutes for the ‘Hoos.

  • Hauser’s turnover led to a Malik Osborne dunk and a 9-6 lead.
  • Did Woldetensae really foul Polite on that shot attempt? It was less egregious than Kyle Guy getting fouled against Auburn, that’s for sure. That 3-point play made it 14-6, whereas the shot itself made it 13-6.
  • Murphy was fouled on his dunk attempt, but it was not called. The score was 14-6, so had the whistle been blown, he would’ve had a chance to make it 14-8.
  • When Woldetensae lost focus and Polite made the layup, the score became 18-9 and came right after Tomas hit a 3.
  • When Morsell got whacked across the arm, it was 30-13. The resulting 3 made it 33-13.
  • From the time Virginia led 6-2 to the time FSU led 33-13 (a 31-7 run), UVa recorded five turnovers and went 3 of 12 from the field.

In all, it was simply an uneven performance from the ‘Hoos. On the one hand, I am not too concerned, because Florida State has Virginia’s number right now. The Cavaliers are 3-5 over their past eight meetings. And hey, the ‘Hoos did make a nice run in the second half, it just didn’t last long enough. And you can place perhaps a little blame on the refs, though like I said, I’d rather not.

But at the same time, it was a concerning result. UVa rarely suffers double-digit losses and that is now three this season by at least 14, two by 21 or more. The Wahoos are not getting it done against the toughest competition on their schedule.

“We talked about it, they are physical, aggressive teams, and somehow, when you play those teams, and they’re good, they’re not just physical, but how do you … hang in there and battle and be tough-minded?” Bennett said. “I think it goes to the things you have control over. We’ve said that before, we’re not the most physically imposing team, but we have to do physically imposing things that matter. In those games that you mentioned, Gonzaga and Florida State, boom, that separation was there right away, and it was almost like cold water. The Virginia Tech game, I thought [Tech], as the game wore on, sort of imposed their will on us, which we’ve done to teams in the past. It’s just trying to grow from it and learn from it.”

I have total faith in Bennett to get the most out of his teams. Maybe the potential of this squad just isn’t quite what we thought. UVa is good, and it can be very good and even great on offense. But the defense, which has gotten somewhat better, just isn’t at an elite level. And this team lacks that edge. It just seems like there’s an attitude missing.

Amazingly, there are only four regular-season games left. So there’s not much time left for this team to continue to grow. But hopefully the Cavaliers can apply the lessons they’ve learned and improve for the stretch run.

“That’s one of our pillars — thankfulness — is be thankful for what adversity teaches you, and are you wise enough and thankful enough to apply it?” Bennett said. “So here we are in every situation, it refocuses you in ways I think that you need it. Again, we’ve been playing some good basketball, for sure we have. [Not] tonight, partly due to Florida State, partly due to us, but apply it. … So we take a day off, recharge, and then you come back guns blazing with your tenacity, your approach, and your focus. We’re getting down to the end, that’s the thing. You don’t want to leave anything on the table. That’s what we got to do moving forward.”

Photo credit: Mike Olivella

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