FSU basketball: Takeaways from ‘Noles win over North Carolina

No. 15 FSU basketball (16-4, 11-4 ACC) outlasted North Carolina in the ACC Semifinals after not playing for nearly a week since the loss to Notre Dame.

The win puts the Noles one win away from the second ACC Tournament Title. The win over North Carolina should ease the thoughts of FSU basketball fans.

The Noles won a road game in the backyard of North Carolina and played with good energy.

Let’s take a look at some of my takeaways from the game:

• FSU held UNC to 33.8 percent shooting
• FSU shot 45 percent after nearly a week off
• FSU was 16 of 22 from the free-throw line
• MJ Walker hasn’t played well the last two games
• FSU overcame second half adversity
• UNC fans are definitely the cheese and WHINE crowd

North Carolina fans wanted to blame the refs, but Roy Williams has been around a long time and knew what the deal was Friday night. Did I mention UNC shot 14 free throws to only three for the Noles in the first half of that game? Imagine what their halftime deficit would have been if not for that lopsided affair?

FSU looked out of sync on offense several times, but I felt shooting 45 percent from the floor on the road in a close game was a good showing. The consistency at the free-throw line was huge and a key to overcoming North Carolina’s run in the second half.

What is M.J. Walker’s deal? He’s played awful the last two games and had six turnovers Friday night. If he can’t get it together we need to see more Saadar Calhoun.

How many times have we seen FSU not be able to recover after giving up a big lead? To be able to do that, and do it on the road was big time.

I have no idea what game North Carolina fans were watching. How can they conclude the refs were why they lost the game? I think it’s fitting it was an FSU victory in Chapel Hill to coin the “cheese and wine” phrase by Sam Cassell. Here we are nearly 30 years later from that moment, and I’m calling them cheese and WHINE crowd.