FSU basketball: Takeaways from ‘Noles blowout loss against Purdue

FSU basketball (5-2) suffered its second defeat of the season in blowout fashion against No. 2 Purdue (7-0) Tuesday night as part of the Big 10/ACC Challenge.

I know FSU fans that didn’t watch the game will see the 93-65 score and think this FSU basketball team sucks. However, it’s more of Purdue’s that good, and FSU is an incredibly young team.

The Noles didn’t play flawless basketball by any stretch of the imagination and were without two starters. However, Purdue shot the ball incredibly well, 59 percent from the floor, and made 12 of 25 three-pointers. I wrote in the preview, Purdue has the No. 2 ranked offense in the nation averaging 92 points per game, and they were right on their season average Tuesday night. The Noles were undersized, and Purdue’s big men dominated the boards, but amazingly FSU was scrappy and had more offensive rebounds than the Boilermakers.

FSU only turned the ball over 13 times and was 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. They made 8 of 24 from three-point land. The loss was a combination of hot shooting from Purdue, with a poor shot selection from FSU, and some moments where FSU lost focus with some bad offensive possessions.

FSU was down 16 points at halftime and cut the lead to eight with 11:45 remaining. However, turnovers on three consecutive possessions, a couple of fouls, and three Purdue three-pointers later, and they were down 20 points with 8:47 remaining.

Purdue is a team that will likely make the Final Four, and FSU is a team still trying to find itself. Caleb Mills played with confidence, finishing with 22 points on 9 of 16 shooting and 2 of 3 from three-point land. John Butler played well with 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting and 2 of 4 from three-point land.

I think the team is improving and will be a tough team to beat by the time February rolls around. Also, it’s not like the ACC is the ACC of old, as there are a lot of bad teams in the league right now. The Noles will be back in action Saturday with the beginning of ACC play when they host Syracuse at 4 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.