by Bill from Tampa
As the game progressed you never got the feeling that Florida State was going to make that run and make it five straight wins over North Carolina State.
The closest the Seminoles ever got was 9-8 at the 15:22 mark of the first half. After that it was all down hill for the 'Noles as they dropped a disheartening 84-66 loss to the Wolfpack.
Anytime FSU looked poised to make a run at NC State, the Seminoles found some way to mess it up.
The best example of that was what turned out to be a five point turnaround. Down 28-21, Robert Gilchrist blew a slam dunk in transition. The ball quickly went the other way for a three point play bt TJ Warren. So instead of being down by five, FSU found itself down by ten points.
It was pretty much like that the entire game until the margin just got so out of hand, thanks in large part to Warren's 31 points. It was the second time a NCS freshman scored that many in his first game against FSU.
Where the Wolfpack took decided advantage of the 'Noles was on the boards by a wide margin of 45 to 21, with NC State's offensive rebounds equaling the total boards by Florida State. It gave the Pack 29 second chance points.
All Hamilton could say about the disparity in the rebounds was, "We reached and they jumped ... we just didn't put bodies on people."
Of the Pack's first twelve points of the game, six came off Seminole turnovers and six off put backs.
"Those were two areas we stressed coming into the game .... take care of the ball and defensive rebounding," Hamilton said.
The more damning statement by the head coach however was, "There is a softness that is surprising to me. .... the inconsistency is very puzzling. It's amazing how we can go from excellent to bad in a couple of days. We were manhandled in every area that required effort and physicality."
It was basically the TJ and CJ (Leslie) show for the Wolfpack, with both recording a double double. Warren added 13 boards to his 31 points and Leslie scored 19 points along with 10 boards.
Scott Wood had 13.
The Seminoles were led by by Michael Snaer's 20 points with Okaro White scoring 11 of his 13 in the second half. Ian Miller added 11.
After trailing 40-30 at the break, it would be the closest FSU ever got in the second period. The 'Noles had a chance to cut it to nine with 6:53 to play. But Aaron Thomas missed the second of two free throws and back to back three pointers put the Seminoles down 71-55.
The second of those threes was again an example of the comedy of errors that was Florida State. Two 'Noles went up for an easy rebound right under the basket and instead knocked it away from each other. It led to a three from the left wing by Scott in transition.
A frustrated Hamilton was just perplexed how his team simply did not execute its game plan.
"We allowed them to get to spots on the floor that if you look at the tape from last year we did not allow them to get to at all. And we planned to get four (players) on the boards and yet you often saw none."
With the loss the Seminoles fall to 14-12, 6-7.
There was some good news however. Hamilton announced that Terrence Shannon has been cleared to practice after getting a second opinion from a spinal cord specialist in Los Angeles. He was cleared only for non contact, however, and Hamilton added don't expect to see Shannon on the floor in the next game.
Florida State will continue on the road witha trip to Virginia Tech at 6:00 PM on Sunday night.
Comments? Questions? Kudos?