Florida State basketball (5-4) dropped its third consecutive game by 15 or more points in an 82-67 road loss against the No. 8 Houston Cougars (8-1). The game was a bit closer than the final score, as FSU only trailed by six points about midway through the second half after trailing 41-33 at the half.
It’s like a broken record against good teams. FSU isn’t good enough defensively, and they continue to put up three-pointers like they are going out of style, while failing to make a high percentage. FSU shot 39 percent overall and only made 10 of 32 three-pointers (31 percent).
Houston shot 49 percent from the floor overall and 38 percent from three-point range.
There were some positives. FSU outrebounded Houston and shot better from the free-throw line than they have in recent games. However, FSU had 19 turnovers, and Houston scored 18 points off those turnovers.
Robert McCray led FSU scorers with 16 points, and Chauncey Wiggins had 14 points off the bench. Lajae Jones had 12 points.
It was good to see FSU continuing to compete in the second half. These last few games have simply been that they don’t have enough talent and the right pieces to overcome these highly-ranked teams. They have a few winnable games coming up before entering ACC play against two of the better teams in the conference. My hope is they will continue to fight, as there’s a lot of season left, and maybe some guys will find their stroke from the three-point line since they shoot so many. FSU will host UMASS in their next outing next Saturday at Noon.