Chop Chat
Fansided

FSU Basketball: 3 takeaways from huge Noles win over Syracuse

By Kelvin Hunt

MIAMI, FLORIDA - JANUARY 27: Terance Mann #14 of the Florida State Seminoles dribbles with the ball against the Miami Hurricanes during the second half at Watsco Center on January 27, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - JANUARY 27: Terance Mann #14 of the Florida State Seminoles dribbles with the ball against the Miami Hurricanes during the second half at Watsco Center on January 27, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

FSU basketball went on the road and got a much-needed road win in a tough stylistic matchup against Syracuse.

No. 22 FSU basketball (17-5, 5-4 ACC) went on the road and took it to the Syracuse Orange for the most part.

The Noles led by eight points at the half and survived a Syracuse run mid-way through the second half to pull away for an 80-62 win.

Syracuse cut the lead to 51-49 with 11:55 left in the game before the Noles went on a 16-3 run over the next five and a half minutes to give FSU basketball a 67-52 lead with just over six minutes remaining.

Terrance Mann led all scorers with 22 points and nine rebounds. Mfiondu Kabengele continues his strong play off the bench with 18 points and eight rebounds. MJ Walker shot it well from deep making three of six three-point attempts.

The big concern coming into this game was how poorly FSU basketball had shot the ball in the majority of its conference games. However, they shot it well from the onset and made 54 percent of their shots.

What’s even more impressive was making 11 of 22 from beyond the arc. I said they had to shoot it well for a chance to win and that’s exactly what they did, scoring nearly 30 points in transition.

Three Takeways

Turnovers-The Noles had way too many turnovers (21) in the game and their hot shooting coupled with their defense forcing a lot of turnovers (18) themselves helped nullify most of that damage.

Rebounds-FSU basketball won the battle of the boards with a +5 margin which isn’t bad considering the lack of opportunities for offensive rebounds.

Defense-I mentioned the Noles forcing 18 turnovers but they held the Orange to 41 percent shooting from the floor and 25 percent from beyond the arc. The offense fed off the defense which led to a lot of easy buckets which prevented FSU from having to face Syracuse’s zone quite as much.

Thoughts

There isn’t much else to say but big road win in the ACC. The Noles have rattled off four consecutive wins with all of them coming via double digits.

Next. FSU Basketball Q&A with Syracuse Experts. dark

They’ll take on No. 15 Louisville Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Tuck Center with the game airing on ESPN2.

Home/FSU Basketball