FSU Basketball: Seminoles bench responsible for tournament run

FSU basketball is two games away from the second Final Four in program history – and it’s thanks to the recent play of their bench players.

While the FSU basketball team is the lowest seed left in the West Region of the NCAA tournament as the Sweet 16 round begins on Thursday, make no mistake about it: the Seminoles have just as much of a chance to advance to the Final Four in San Antonio this year as any other team in the group.

Of course, the reason they are in this spot to begin with hasn’t been because of the play of big names like Terance Mann and Phil Cofer on a consistent basis, but a deep bench that has kept the Seminoles afloat recently.

In that last four games that FSU basketball has played (the regular season finale win over BC, the ACC tournament loss to Louisville and NCAA tournament wins over Missouri and Xavier), the Seminoles have had a total of 13 players in double digits for points in those games – nine of those players game off the bench.

Against the Eagles, it was Trent Forrest with the double double of 21 points and 10 rebounds to go along with Braian Angola’s 21 points. In the Cardinals’ loss, Cofer dropped 12 points but Forrest and PJ Savoy each added 14 points while Mfiondu Kabengele dropped 10 points.

In the tournament opener against Missouri, Kabengele had 14 points and 12 rebounds while Forrest added 10 points and Savoy had 12 points – while Cofer and Angola had 10 and 15 points respectively against Xavier while Forrest had 14 points and Savoy added 11.

While Forrest has been dependable off the bench most of the season, the man who has been hot of late has to be Savoy. In the last three games, the junior guard from Las Vegas has 37 total points – with 30 of them coming off three point shots, including four treys in each of the tournament games.

Next: Why UMBC level upset won’t happen in college football

During his time as the head coach of the Seminoles, Leonard Hamilton has consistently been known for having a deep bench and being a fan of getting plenty of players in the game to stay fresh. It has happen again this season – and if the starters can get their game back into gear all the time, FSU basketball might be making things interesting the rest of the way in the NCAA tournament.