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FSU basketball: Key takeaways from ‘Noles victory over Louisville

By Kelvin Hunt

Florida State Seminoles guard Caleb Mills (4) brings the ball up the court during a game between the Seminoles and the University of Pennsylvania Quakers at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021.Fsu Vs Penn Mens Basketball 111021 Ts 583
Florida State Seminoles guard Caleb Mills (4) brings the ball up the court during a game between the Seminoles and the University of Pennsylvania Quakers at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021.Fsu Vs Penn Mens Basketball 111021 Ts 583 /
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FSU basketball (8-5, 2-2 ACC) got a much-needed 79-70 win over Louisville (10-5, 4-1 ACC) Saturday night.

I wrote in the preview. I expected the Noles to win the game as they were nearly five-point favorites. It was the fifth consecutive win over the Cardinals for Leonard Hamilton.

The Noles did it with their offense, shooting 46 percent from the floor and 35 percent from beyond the arc.

It was the Caleb Mills show in the first half, as he led all scorers with 23 points, finishing with 27 for the game. Matthew Cleveland chipped in with 17 points off the bench on 7 of 8 shooting.

Key Takeaways

  • FSU only had six turnovers
  • FSU has to be better at the free-throw line
  • Better defensive effort

FSU helped themselves by only committing six turnovers in the entire game. It also helped they shot much better (46 percent) against Louisville than they typically allow (39 percent).

The game wouldn’t have been as close as it was towards the end, with FSU basketball missing several free throws. They finished the game 17 of 28 (60.7 percent), with over half of those misses coming from freshman Matthew Cleveland and center Naheem McLeod.

FSU had allowed their last two opponents to score at will, but Louisville isn’t a strong offensive team, and it showed. The Noles held them to 40 percent shooting overall and 29.6 percent from beyond the arc. Both averages are a couple of percentage points below their seasonal average.

Final Thoughts

It was a big win for the Noles after the embarrassing loss against Wake Forest. As I said in the preview, I believe some of that was the quick turnaround after being off for 18 days. The Noles will host Miami Tuesday night at 8 p.m. on the ACC Network. Miami is undefeated in ACC play and took down No. 2 Duke Saturday night.

The Noles have won seven consecutive wins over the Canes. One last thing. It might be time to put Matthew Cleveland in the starting lineup because he’s clearly one of the better options on the team overall. Wyatt Wilkes still plays too many minutes for my liking.

dark. Next. Importance of Jared Verse Commitment to the Noles

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