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FSU basketball: 3 takeaways from ‘Noles scrappy win over Virginia

By Kelvin Hunt

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Devin Vassell #24 of the Florida State Seminoles shoots the ball against Josh Perkins #13 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 28, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Devin Vassell #24 of the Florida State Seminoles shoots the ball against Josh Perkins #13 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 28, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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No. 9 FSU basketball won a hard-fought battle against defending national champion Virginia. Here are my three takeways from the win.

FSU basketball (15-2, 5-1 ACC) made it a lot harder on themselves than it had to be against Virginia in its 54-50 win Wednesday night.

At the end of the day they got the win and moved to a tie atop the ACC conference with Duke and Louisville. They could control their own destiny within the conference if they win out.

I know that’s a long shot, but it’s still worth mentioning for a team many thought would struggle to make the NCAA Tournament after losing so much from last year’s team.

FSU was fortunate Devin Vassell and Anthony Polite picked up the slack offensively. They went 12 of 21 combined and were 6-8 from three-point land and accounted for 59 percent of FSU’s points.

Three Takeaways

  • Shot Selection Was Terrible
  • Gave Up Too Many Layups
  • Win Ugly

FSU was sloppy on both sides of the ball for much of the game. One thing I mentioned in our keys to victory was how Virginia plays at a snail’s pace and FSU couldn’t afford to waste offensive possessions. Well, they wasted a ton of them and luckily was +7 on the offensive boards.

Defensively, they forced 18 turnovers with 10 steals and five blocks which are right on their seasonal average. However, they allowed a poor shooting Virginia team to shoot 45.7 percent for the game. That was mainly because 16 of Virginia’s 21 made shots from the floor came from inside the paint on mostly layups.

A win is a win against a team like Virginia. It says a lot about a team that can win while shooting that poorly while wasting so many offensive possessions. It was good to see the Noles finally win a battle of the offensive boards which was huge in the grand scheme of things with possessions being limited.

Next. Noles Could Be In Driver's Seat With Virginia Win. dark

They have another winnable game against Miami (10-6, 2-4 ACC) on the road Saturday afternoon.

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