FSU Basketball Beats Rival Florida Gators for the Third Straight Year

FSU basketball defeated the Florida Gators for the third year in a row by the final score of 83-78 to extend their record to 9-1 on the season.

Behind huge performances by Dwayne Bacon and Terrance Mann, the Florida State Seminoles won a heated contest against their biggest rivals. Though FSU basketball was up by 12 with 7:06 left, they did a poor job of closing the game out. Missed FT’s and stagnant offensive possessions allowed the Gators to cut FSU’s lead down to three. And with under a minute left, Florida’s KeVaughn Allen had a good look from deep to tie the game.

He missed, Mann grabbed his biggest rebound of the night and was immediately fouled. He made both FT’s and iced the game. The win was their third consecutive against Florida, and their most important of the season so far.

Outside of Mann and Bacon, FSU basketball didn’t get much scoring production from anyone else. Their next leading scorer was Jonathan Issac with nine points, on 1-of-4 shooting. The freshman star struggled in his return, clearly exhibiting rustiness after missing a week of action. Junior point guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes also had a quiet game; he scored just seven points and dished out two assists.

As for the other guys, the Gators received a big boost from their embattled senior point guard, Kasey Hill. He scored 21 points on an efficient 10-for-15 shooting, to go with three assists and two steals. And Allen, despite playing through foul trouble, still dropped 15 points and helped Florida make it a close game late.

However, despite some sloppiness towards the end, Florida State was able to do enough to win, and that’s all that matters. The Seminoles are now 10-1 on the year, with games against Manhattan and Samford coming up before conference play begins.

Let’s hand out some awards to celebrate the momentous victory.