RECAP: FSU Basketball Falls, Jared McCain Ties Duke Freshman Record

The Seminoles lose once again.

It was a very hot start for Florida State, going 7/8 from the floor to start the game as they were up 16-11. Then, Jared McCain arrived. 

McCain literally couldn't miss, starting the game 8/8 from the floor and 6/6 from 3. He overcame FSU's hot start by hitting all kinds of shots; step-backs, in transition, heavily contested... it didn't matter, McCain was hitting them. FSU went just 8/22 from the floor after their hot start and had a couple of bad possessions right before the half to enter the break down 44-34. Outside of McCain's 25 points, the rest of Duke's team wasn't spectacular, shooting just 6/14 for 19 points and 6 turnovers, 4 of those coming from Filipowski alone. 

The second half was almost a complete 180. It was very slow, and very sloppy from both teams. No matter what FSU would do to get themselves close to being back in the game, they'd either make a mental mistake or miss an open look and Duke would respond on the other end. Florida State got the lead down to 6 twice with more than 10 minutes remaining. The first time, they followed it up with a turnover before Mark Mitchell laid it in.

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The second time was a back-breaker. Jamir Watkins had just hit a tough shot to bring the lead back down to 6 and Darin Green Jr pushed Jared McCain mid-play. Nothing was called initially, but the announcers made a note of it. On the ensuing Duke possession, McCain had missed the layup before the officials blew the play dead on a loose ball foul, and Green Jr stuck the ball into McCain's chest, resulting in a technical foul on Green Jr. McCain hit both free throws, then hit a 3 in the same possession. In 30 seconds, the lead went from 6 to 11. 

Not all hope was gone, though. Chandler Jackson hit a 3 right before the under-8 media timeout, which got the lead down to 7, then had a WIDE open look the next possession after FSU had gotten a stop, but missed. Cam Corhen also had a frustrating turnover after picking up a loose rebound, but was trapped and tried to throw it off a Duke player's leg, which went right into the hands of the Blue Devils. The game was still sort of in the balance, but Jeremy Roach would hit a 3 with about 4 minutes to go, effectively ending things. 

Duke would go on to win 76-67 in what was another frustrating loss for Florida State. Their defense was good outside of a McCain explosion, who tied Duke's freshman scoring record with 35 points, but the offense couldn't get it done in the final 20 minutes, turning it over 10 times. 

Jamir Watkins was once again very good: 15 points on 7/11 shooting, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 2 steals. Only one free throw attempt is certainly eye-opening when you consider his playstyle. His 4 turnovers didn't help either. 

Cam Corhen had the weirdest game I can remember. You look at the box score and see 14 points and 9 rebounds and think "Oh, that's pretty solid," but for half of the game, he was making some really bad decisions. 

Chandler Jackson once again gave the team some strong minutes, with 8 points in 16 minutes. Even with his second missed 3, I thought he did a good job picking and choosing his spots. 

Something to note is Primo Spears didn't play in the second half. After a questionable ending to the Virginia Tech game and being -13 in the first half of this game, it's probably the right call, but I'm surprised Hamilton did it anyway. 

I thought FSU's defensive effort, in the second half especially, was good enough to win. McCain hit a couple of open looks, but for the most part, Florida State was making life tough on a lot of shots and even contested most of his looks. If you take out McCain's production, the rest of Duke's team was just 14/36 with 12 turnovers. That should be good enough to win most of the time, but McCain went nuclear for 35 points on a 12/20 shooting performance. Roach was the only other Blue Devil in double-figures, finishing with 17 points, but even a lot of his shots were tough and came in timely manners late in the shot clock. 

Florida State is back at home Tuesday night against Boston College. 

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