FSU basketball: Noles blowout Louisville for second win this season

FSU basketball( 2-9, 1-1 ACC) hasn’t had a lot to brag about this season, but better play in the past couple of games against ranked opponents turned into their second win Saturday.

The Noles dominated a winless Louisville squad 75-53 on the road. It was a game that was never particularly close, with FSU opening up a double-digit lead about midway through the first half.

FSU led 36-24 at halftime. Caleb Mills led the way with 16 points, and Matthew Cleveland had a strong 15 points and eight rebounds.

Freshman Cameron Cohen finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Naheem McLeod had six points, six blocks, and five rebounds.

The game was about winning the key categories, which FSU did for the most part. They shot 45 percent overall, 37 percent from three-point land, and 75 percent from the charity stripe.

FSU won the battle of the boards and only had nine turnovers, compared to 16 for the Cardinals. FSU held Louisville to 35 pecent shooting overall, and Louisville only shot nine free throws in the game.

It was an even more impressive performance considering FSU played without Cam’Ron Fletcher, who was lost for the year recently with an injury.

This win could be a major confidence boost for a team that’ll play a couple of out-of-conference games over the Christmas break.

However, Louisville is an awful team, and it’s amazing to see how far both programs have fallen since that epic showdown in the Tuck Center a couple of years ago.

The Noles will take on USC-Upstate and St. John’s before returning to conference action against Notre Dame.

They will play five more games before freshman Baba Miller will be eligible to join the team in a real game this season after serving a joke of an NCAA suspension.

Here’s to hoping the Noles can win back-to-back games for the first time this season.