FSU basketball: Takeaways from Noles road win over Louisville

FSU basketball (8-2, 4-1 ACC) won their third consecutive game in 2021 with a 78-65 win over the No. 16 Louisville Cardinals (9-3, 4-2 ACC).

The Noles were without Anthony Polite, but it was Raiquan Gray who led the way with 17 points. Freshman Scottie Barnes returned to action and finished with 10 points.

Malik Osborne finished with 12 points, Wyatt Wilkes had 13 points, and RayQuan Evans had 11 points.

It was a game that was never close after the Noles opened up a 20+ point lead in the first half. Louisville closed the gap near the end of the first half, with FSU leading 42-28 at halftime.

The hot shooting continued for FSU basketball as they shot 50 percent overall and 42.1 percent from three-point land. The consistency at the free-throw line continued as they were 7 of 10 from the charity stripe.

Defensively, the Noles held Louisville to 43 percent shooting overall and 4 of 16 from the three-point range.

I must say, the referees were terrible in this game and did their best to help Louisville get back in the game. Louisville didn’t shoot a single free-throw in the first half but did themselves no favors as they only connected on 11 of 18 free throws in the second-half.

The battle of the boards was a stalemate but Louisville got too many offensive rebounds for my liking. However, FSU did well with only turning the ball over 12 times, which is below their seasonal average.

Takeaways

Raiquan Gray continues to emerge since the long layoff and is playing some outstanding basketball. This team is allowing the three-point shot to come to them instead of forcing them, which is something I was preaching before the Christmas break.

Balsa Koprivica only had six points, but he made his presence felt a couple of times. He picked off a pass and took it the length of the floor, missed a finger roll and caught the rebound off the rim, and dunked it to give the Noles a spark in the second half.

Think about this, FSU easily beat No. 16 Louisville with M.J. Walker having an off game, though he did have 10 assists.

This FSU basketball team seems to be finding an identity at just the right time. However, I do need them to tighten up defensively as Louisville’s David Johnson was able to get to the basket whenever he wanted.

The Noles will rematch the last team to beat them, No. 20 Clemson Saturday at 3 p.m.