The Florida State men’s basketball team headed into a frigid day in Tallahassee on the last day of January where they welcomed Stanford. The game marked the first time the Cardinal have played the Seminoles in Tallahassee. FSU looked to continue its improvement since defeating Cal on Wednesday and would capitalize by sending Stanford home with an 88-80 loss.
FSU has now won back-to-back ACC games for the first time this season. The Seminoles were impressive from inside the arc, shooting 22 of 30, while going 7 of 23 from beyond the arc. Chauncey Wiggins led all scorers with a career-high 23 points, while Lajae Jones chipped in with 18 and Robert McCray V poured in 19.
“I thought our defense was ok,” FSU coach Luke Loucks said. “The intensity was there and the discipline was there. Offensively it helps when your seniors show up and to me they’ve really done a good job keeping the game simple these last couple of weeks even when shots don’t fall.”
The opening tip started with a bang as the tip landed right in front of Jones, who sprinted from the three-point arc to the basket for the slam dunk to give Florida State an early 2-0 lead. Both teams traded baskets for the majority of the first half with lots of 3-pointers and dunks.
The game was tied at 24 coming out of a media timeout where it was anybody's game with seven minutes and 50 seconds until halftime. Stanford went cold from the field and would go on a three-minute scoring drought. The Seminoles capitalized, countering with a 13-2 run where they made 6 of 8 field-goal attempts.
Stanford would fight back and would get it to three points but then proceeded to turn it over four times in four minutes, in which FSU would convert into six points and end the half on a 6-0 run.
The Seminoles (10-12, 3-6 ACC) were up comfortably 41-33 at halftime. But as any team in the ACC knows that no lead is truly safe. Basketball is a game of runs and Stanford (14-8, 3-6) for sure still had a few left in them, but then again so did the Seminoles.
“I think we’re figuring out how to show up and be consistent,” Loucks said. “The wins and losses are a byproduct of your consistency before the game. I try to get them to focus just on the present and they say ‘10 toes’ be right where your toes are.”
Florida State came out to open the second half with a defensive strategy of putting pressure and sending double teams to freshman Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie. The talented freshman came into the game averaging 21.5 points per game and, although the Seminoles won the game, Okorie still finished with 26 points and four assists.
On offense, FSU was scorching at one point as they went on a 12-0 run that was capitalized when McCray drove to the basket and was fouled hard. The foul was reviewed and ruled a common foul. McCray made one of the two free throws, but the Seminoles were up 59-44 with 12 minutes and 49 seconds left in the game.
McCray and Jones would get easy basket after easy basket as the game went along and the Seminoles looked to be cruising to an easy victory. After a Jones and-one free throw, Florida State was comfortably up 66-47 with 10 minutes to go.
Stanford chipped away in garbage time toward the end but this game was never in doubt. Unlike previous games where the last possession decided the game, the Seminoles ran the clock out to an emphatic home crowd who just wanted to get home and out of the cold weather.
The weather outside in Tallahassee might have been freezing, but inside the Tucker Center, FSU was scorching.
“They really exploited us on both ends,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said. “They’re a really tough team to zone. It’s been successful for us against certain teams. But when they put Wiggins out there at the five, really put a lot of problems on us.”
Up next
The Seminoles will have the week off before they hit the road to South Bend, Indiana, to take on Notre Dame on Feb. 7 at 4 p.m.
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