Florida State's men's basketball team had a disappointing showing when it lost to California by a score of 77-68 on Wednesday night. The Seminoles thought this could be an outside shot to make the NCAA Tournament after their coming into the west coast slate with a 13-5 record.
However, much like the California game, Florida State could not get a stop on defense, where they lost to Stanford by a score of 78-71. The Cardinal shot well from three-point range, where they combined 11/24 from deep.
The defense is relatively concerning since they couldn't get a rebound versus California, and then they couldn't defend the three-point shot.
The offensive efforts did not do much better as forward Jamir Watkins shot 8/16 from the field and finished with 20 points. Then forward Malique Ewin had 16 points on 3/9 shooting. Forward Taylor Bol Bowen did not have the same success that he did against Georgia Tech where he had 5 points.
Overall, this has got to be the time for head basketball coach Leonard Hamilton and his squad to hit the reset button. The west coast did not do them any favors.
The Seminoles will host Virginia Tech, who has an 8-12 record, at home in the Tucker Center on Wednesday, January 29th at 7 PM EST on the ACC Network. They desperately need to get back to their winning ways as they are starting to slide.
Florida State is more talented than what they have shown on the road trip. Coach Hamilton has to find a remedy to the slump. It all starts with turning defense into offense.