Florida State comes up short in upset bid against No. 3 North Carolina
The Florida State men’s basketball team proved its recent hot streak was no fluke on Saturday, but the Seminoles still couldn’t derail the runaway train that is the No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels.
In a battle of the teams with the best two records in the ACC, UNC fought off a scare from the Seminoles and pulled away in the final minute for a 75-68 victory. It marked the first time during their current 10-game win streak that the Tar Heels have won by less than 10 points.
With the win, North Carolina improves to 17-3 overall and 9-0 in the ACC. Florida State, which came in having won eight of its past 10 games, falls to 6-3 in the ACC and 12-8 overall.
“I thought from an effort standpoint, the effort was good,” FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. “We had some dips, like coming out at the beginning of the second half. I thought we rushed some things and I thought defensively we could’ve maybe done a better job contesting those 3’s.
“But that’s what great teams will do. … They have a well-balanced squad where they can hurt you in five different places.”
The Seminoles led at halftime by five points, but North Carolina started the second half with a 25-11 run to take a 61-52 lead. The Heels led by as many as 10 points in the second half, but Florida State closed the deficit to two when Primo Spears stole a pass and scored a layup to make it 70-68 with 2:36 remaining.
The Seminoles then had two chances to tie or take the lead, but they came up empty on both possessions — one ended with a missed 3-pointer and the other with a turnover.
Florida State connected on just one of its final nine shots from the floor, and that one make was Spears’ uncontested layup.
“We had a chance,” Hamilton said. “We missed some free throws. And they got the chance to get to the free-throw line a little more than us. And they made their free throws, and we didn’t hit ours – what few free throws we got.”
The Seminoles shot just 5-of-11 from the free-throw line, with three of those misses being on the front end of one-and-ones. North Carolina connected on 19 of 24 shots from the line.
Spears led FSU with 15 points, while the Seminoles got 12 apiece from Jamir Watkins and Darin Green Jr., and 10 from Chandler Jackson.
North Carolina was led by star guard RJ Davis’ 24 points. Forward Harrison Ingram added 13 points and 16 rebounds.
Florida State returns to action Saturday at Louisville.
BOX SCORE: No. 3 UNC 75, FSU 68
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