FSU Basketball: 3 reasons Noles can beat Duke in ACC Tournament

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 14: Terance Mann #14 of the Florida State Seminoles celebrates with teammates after defeating the Virginia Tech Hokies in overtime 65-63 during their game in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Spectrum Center on March 14, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 14: Terance Mann #14 of the Florida State Seminoles celebrates with teammates after defeating the Virginia Tech Hokies in overtime 65-63 during their game in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Spectrum Center on March 14, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

No. 12 FSU basketball (27-6) pulled off a big upset over No. 2 Virginia (29-3) to make it to the ACC Tournament Final. I give you three reasons they’ll be crowned ACC Tourney Champs against Duke.

FSU basketball went into the Virginia game as nine point underdogs after getting beat like a drum by the Cavaliers on the road in January.

However, there were a lot of uncharacteristic things that happened in that game that gave me hope the Noles could pull off the upset.

In fact, I wrote about that Friday prior to the game and that’s almost exactly how the game played out. The only thing I didn’t account for was FSU shooting 56.5 percent from the floor for the game.

That’s nearly 20 percent higher than want Virginia gives up on average to opposing offenses. Listen, FSU won the game with it’s defense and made some very tough contested shots at critical moments.

I wouldn’t count on them making those type of shots at that rate consistently at all. However, they won the game in all the key phases.

They shot better, defended better, rebounded better and shot the three-pointer better than Virginia. The only thing Virginia did better was they only had eight turnovers the entire game.

The Noles will take on Duke in the ACC Tournament Final Saturday night. I’m going to give you three reasons the Noles could win the game and become ACC Tournament Champions.