FSU basketball led most of the way against the No. 15 Virginia Cavaliers, but couldn’t hold on down the stretch as they lost 61-58. FSU only had eight turnovers and made 73 percent of their foul shots.
However, they did the one thing I said they couldn’t afford to do, and that’s get into a three-point shooting contest with Virginia. I pointed out how FSU had been shooting fewer three-point shots overall in the last seven games, which helped lead to their three-game winning streak in the ACC.
Virginia takes a ton of threes; 46 percent of their shots have been from the three-point line, and they make over 35 percent of them. The first point I made about what FSU can’t afford to do was get into a three-point shooting contest with Virginia.
Fought til the end. #Connected pic.twitter.com/bKjDaqL20B
— Florida State Men’s Basketball (@FSUHoops) February 11, 2026
FSU has to get back to playing to its strength and stop shooting so many three point shots
That’s exactly what they did, and it cost them the game. FSU shot 33 three-pointers and made six (18 percent). They only shot 62 shots overall, which means 53 percent of their shots were threes. I said Virginia would make some threes. They made 10 of 33 in the game.
They also outrebounded FSU, but we knew that was likely going into the game. I’m not sure why it’s so hard for those guys to figure out they’re not a great three-point shooting team, and they need to stop shooting so many from that range. They shot 22 free throws, why not keep attacking the basket to prevent so many empty possessions?
This was a frustrating loss because FSU played well enough to win the game, but the empty possessions because they shot so many threes and didn’t make a high enough percentage keeps costing them.
I thought we might have been past that issue, but they let a win slip away that could have been a signature win early in Luke Loucks career.