Recap: Virginia Tech Sends FSU Basketball To Fourth Loss In Five Games

The Seminoles are trending in the wrong direction at the worst possible time.

It was a back-and-forth first half, as neither team led by more than five. Florida State had a slow offensive stretch for four minutes toward the beginning of the half which allowed Virginia Tech to get the lead. Jamir Watkins would not be denied for most of the half, getting wherever he wanted whenever he wanted to get there. At the half, he had 13 points on a perfect 4/4 from the floor and 4/5 from the stripe. 

Still, Virginia Tech's offense was lethal enough to help them keep up with Florida State's blistering pace. Hunter Cattoor and Sean Pedulla had 11 points each by the half and as a team, they were 6/11 from 3. Between that and shooting 11/13 from the free throw line, it was no surprise the game was tied at 39 with Florida State shooting a blistering 60.9% from the floor. 

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It wouldn't have been tied at half without a well-executed 2-for-1 situation. Florida State called timeout with a little over a minute left in the half to prepare for it and used it to the best of their abilities, sending Josh Nickelberry to the free throw line, where he made both, before Primo Spears took his defender off the dribble to get to the basket and tie the game up following a good defensive stop. 

The second half got off to a rough start. Jamir Watkins picked up two fouls in a span of 30 seconds to give him 3 fouls (charge call was really questionable) which parked him on the bench. Virginia Tech was 2/3 from 3 to extend the lead to 7 within the first four minutes and Jalen Warley was called for his 3rd foul trying to box out Lynn Kidd, who had gotten away with a lot to start the half. 

Once Watkins came back in, he picked up right where he left off, stealing the inbounds pass and taking it coast-to-coast for the flush. He needs to be All-ACC at the end of the season. 

Unfortunately, the offense dried up after that. Virginia Tech was hitting enough shots to keep Florida State at arm's reach and FSU couldn't make baskets for the middle part of the second half. From the 12-minute mark, the next six minutes saw just six points. 

FSU got the lead back down to five under five minutes left and Warley stole it with a prime chance to cut into the lead even more. He got fouled on his layup attempt, the ball rimmed out, and he went 0/2 from the free-throw line. The 'Noles got the offensive rebound just to fumble it out of bounds seconds later. Virginia Tech responded with a goaltend-and-one to push the lead back to 8 by the final media timeout. Just a brutal stretch after a great chance to cut the lead to 2 or 3.  

The 'Noles could just never make enough baskets to get back in the game, so after a bunch of free throws to end the game, they'd fall on the road to the Hokies 83-75.

Jamir Watkins was great. If he could've gotten any help from his guards in the second half this would've been a much different game. He finished with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals, while shooting 7/9 from the floor and 3/3 from 3. Literally did everything he possibly could to will this team to a win and it still wasn't enough. 

Darin Green Jr. had a solid game with 14 points but a lot of it felt inconsequential. He hit some tough 3s at least and it looked like he had some confidence again. 

Baba Miller had 9 points and Cam Corhen had 8, but Corhen also had some brutal head-scratching moments. Primo Spears had 6, no one else had more than 2. 

Missed free throws were definitely the story in this one, as FSU missed 10 shots at the line to Virginia Tech’s 4. It was more dumb decisions throughout the second half that cost FSU. From Primo Spears intentionally fouling out on an 88% free throw shooter, Corhen fumbling the ball out of bounds or taking bad fouls, it just wasn’t the best game mentally for them. 

Virginia Tech had four players really perform well: Hunter Cattoor (20 points, 4/6 from 3), Sean Pedulla (19 points, 13/14 from the free throw line),  Lynn Kidd (12 points, 15 rebounds), and Tyler Nickel (15 points 3/4 from 3). They had a lot of answers for whatever FSU was throwing at them, and it led to them outscoring the ‘Noles 23-7 off of turnovers. That’s rare for an FSU game.

Next up, Duke comes to the Tucker Center on Saturday afternoon. 

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