Florida State basketball started ACC play with five consecutive losses, and it didn’t help that the first two games were against North Carolina and Duke. It looked like new head coach Luke Loucks might have been in over his head, but he seemed to figure out that putting a round peg in a square hole wasn’t going to work.
FSU suffered a blowout loss to NC State, which seemed to be the turning point in the season. FSU saw improvements in a road loss in their next game against Syracuse and a one-point loss against Wake Forest.
However, FSU is 5-2 since the Wake Forest game, and both losses were by three points, including nearly beating No. 15 Virginia. Â
What changed for FSU to find such drastic improvements?
- Shooting fewer three-point attempts
- Turning the ball over less
- Better defense
- Free throw shooting
Florida State is averaging 32.6 three-point attempts per game through 25 games. That’s with FSU averaging 27.5 attempts over the last seven, so that lets you know they were well averaging well over 35 three-point attempts per game over the first 18 games or so. It was absurd how many three-pointers they were taking, while only making around 30 percent of the attempts. It’s something I pointed out in mid-December. FSU is having fewer empty offensive possessions because it is taking fewer three-point attempts. Three of those five wins are by three points or less.
Florida State only has one game with double-digit turnovers. They are averaging 7.8 turnovers per game over the last seven, and 11.3 per game for the season.
FSU’s defense has gotten so much better, it’s not funny. Opposing offenses have averaged 41.4 field goal percentage over the past seven games. Teams have averaged 44.7 percent for the season, so you can see a stark contrast.
FSU is averaging 20 free throw attempts over the past seven games, making 68.5 percent. They had two bad free-throw shooting games in that stretch, which decreased the percentage. Ironically, FSU won both games, playing great defense in one and making 15 three pointers in the other.
It has been a combination of better decisions on offense, fewer turnovers, better defense, and getting to the free-throw line more than settling for 35+ three-point attempts. They will have a chance to get another ACC win on Tuesday night when they host Boston College. Will they suffer a letdown after a big win over Virginia Tech over the weekend? A win here shows a maturing bunch and continues to build momentum for the future.