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FSU Basketball: 3 takeaways from ‘Noles win over Winthrop

By Kelvin Hunt

SUNRISE, FL - DECEMBER 16: Terance Mann #14 of the Florida State Seminoles celebrates in the first half against the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the MetroPCS Orange Bowl Basketball Classic at BB&T Center on December 16, 2017 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
SUNRISE, FL - DECEMBER 16: Terance Mann #14 of the Florida State Seminoles celebrates in the first half against the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the MetroPCS Orange Bowl Basketball Classic at BB&T Center on December 16, 2017 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images) /
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FSU basketball closed out its non-conference schedule with a win over Winthrop. Check out three takeaways from the game.

No. 9 FSU basketball made it closer than it should have been but it to be but did a great job of closing out their non-conference schedule with a win over Winthrop to move to 12-1 on the season.

It was a hard fought win over a scrappy team that was playing without their leading scorer Nych Smith.

Winthop did a great job of driving to the basketball all game and finishing at the rim. This attributed to them being able to shoot 49 percent from the floor.

FSU had been holding opponents to 41 percent shooting on average prior to the game. FSU led 52-36 at the half before allowing Winthrop to cut the lead to two at 63-61 about midway through the second half.

Thank goodness for Terrance Mann who led all players with 22 points on 10 of 11 shooting and seven rebounds.

Phil Cofer, David Nichols and Mfiondu Kabengele scored 14, 10 and 10 respectively. Cofer was especially effective in the first half as he made his first start of the season.

Three Takeaways

  • FSU Has To Be Better Defensively: FSU had to be better defensively and this may have been a case of not playing for a week combined with the name on the jersey with Virginia on deck.
  • FSU Has To Rebound Better: FSU allowed a much smaller Winthrop team to compete on the boards with the Noles only having a +1 advantage for the entire game.
  • FSU Has To Shoot Free Throws Better: This is an area the Noles had improved overall coming into the game at well over 70 percent as a team. They shot 65 percent against Winthop and left 10 points off the board.

Thoughts

FSU basketball has to improve in these three areas if they want to win in ACC play. They did do a much better job of not turning the ball over so much with just 11 turnovers in the game.

Next. FSU Basketball Weekly Preview: Jan. 1st-6th. dark

The latter area will be critical against Virginia who will play at a snail’s pace and limit possessions.

The Noles will be back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2 as they travel to play No. 4 Virginia.

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