FSU basketball: Takeaways from ‘Noles loss against Virginia Tech

I wrote in the FSU basketball preview how Virginia Tech was much better than their overall record. However, it took a remarkable shooting display from three-point land for the Hokies to put away an FSU squad missing three starters.

I’ve seen many FSU basketball fans talk recklessly regarding their performance, but they didn’t play badly under the circumstances. FSU shot 50 percent overall, 38 percent from three-point land, and 88 percent (15 of 17) from the free-throw line.

The one glaring area was 14 turnovers, with eight happening in the first half. Despite all of the three-pointers and missing starters, FSU was only down 62-60 with 7:26 remaining. However, the final barrage of five more made 3s was enough to thwart any thoughts of an FSU win.

Virginia Tech made 18 of 25 three-pointers (72 percent), with only 10 turnovers, and only shot five free throws.

Some of the three-point attempts were wide open because FSU was late to rotate, but several attempts saw Virginia Tech players shooting with FSU players running to contest the shot.

Several attempts were Virginia Tech players shaking FSU defenders off the dribble to free themselves for three-point attempts. Some of that was because seven footers were trying to guard smaller guards.

Frankly, it was one of those games they would likely never duplicate again. It would be difficult to make 18 of 25 with nobody guarding them.

Some Promising Signs

Anthony Polite had one of his better offensive games with 17 points and six rebounds. Matthew Cleveland was 4-4 from the free-throw line in his first college start and finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Jalen Warley had six assists and four steals.

Naheem McLeod was a force around the rim, finishing with 15 points on 7 of 7 shooting. FSU sorely missed leading scorer Caleb Mills, who played three minutes and clearly looked affected by the tonsilitis he’s battling. It’s never good to lose, but this loss is much more acceptable than the Georgia Tech debacle. FSU was down three players, started three freshmen and the opposing team that’s a quadrant two team made 18 three-pointers. Hopefully, guys can get healthy soon and we can better assess the team’s performance.