FSU defense disappears in second half against UMass; Seminoles drop fourth straight

The Florida State men’s basketball team finished the first half Saturday on a 26-9 run. The Seminoles took a four-point lead into the locker room and seemed on their way, if they continued their strong play, to snapping an ugly three-game losing streak.

Instead, they gave up 60 points in the final 20 minutes and lost to underdog UMass, 103-95, in the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise. Florida State is now 5-5 on the season.

“We’re playing with inconsistent effort and fight,” FSU head coach Luke Loucks said. “And as long as our coaching staff has to continue to coach effort, just showing up and doing your job, then we’re going to be in a tough spot and we’re going to have nights like tonight.

“As soon as we figure that out, showing up to work with a lunch pail and a gritty attitude, our team will take the next step and we’re going to have better results than we did tonight.”

The Seminoles once again struggled shooting the ball, but the real issue was the defense. UMass got whatever it wanted, from post-ups under the rim to wide-open 3-pointers to second-chance points to layups and dunks against a zone. Nothing Florida State tried on that side of the court made a difference.

The Minutemen (8-3) just scored and scored and scored some more.

Their two post players, Leonardo Bettiol and Daniel Sanford-Hankins, combined for 14 made field goals (on 18 attempts) and 32 points in the second half alone. The Seminoles just had no answer on the interior, and those two big men wound up with 44 points and 18 rebounds in the win.

“In the second half they abused us in the paint,” Loucks said. “They abused us on the glass.”

Meanwhile, Florida State’s inside presence was essentially non-existent. The Seminoles’ starting frontcourt — Chauncey Wiggins, Lajae Jones and Alier Maluk — were 5 of 17 from the floor and recorded just seven rebounds. Forward Alex Steen returned from injury for the Seminoles but managed just two points and two rebounds in eight minutes.

The first half started poorly once again for Florida State, but the Seminoles — behind the stellar first-half play of Robert McCray — were actually able to take a lead into the locker room. McCray had nine points and seven assists at the break and helped spark a 26-9 run over the final 8:17 of the first half.

And for a stretch, it looked like the Florida State defense had finally found an answer for the Minutemen offense. But it only looked that way.

UMass dominated the second half, at one point hitting 14 of 21 shots from the floor.

“Our defense was a step slow,” Loucks said. “Our urgency on the glass was a step behind, and maybe five steps behind where it needed to be. And again, credit to UMass. They just outworked us on both ends.”

And even when the Seminoles did get a rare second-half stop, it still backfired. Florida State, which trailed by nine points at the time, forced a shot-clock violation by the Minutemen with 5:55 left. But Lajae Jones was called for a flagrant technical foul moments after the shot-clock violation.

UMass hit both free throws and then buried a 3-pointer. A zero-point possession became a five-point possession, and when the Minutemen buried another 3 on the next possession, the lead was up to 17 and the game was over.

Florida State fought and scrapped in the final few minutes, hitting some desperation 3s and grabbing 10 offensive rebounds in the final 2:30 of the game. Before that, the Seminoles had just five offensive boards in the first 37 minutes.

In the end, it didn’t matter. UMass had its fifth straight win, Florida State had its fourth straight loss, and the Seminoles were once again watching a team eclipse the 100-point mark against their defense.

McCray finished with a team-high 21 points and 11 assists. Kobe MaGee registered 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Martin Somerville scored 15 points for the Seminoles, who were just 12-of-41 from 3-point range.

Florida State plays again on Tuesday at Dayton.

SIGN UP: Join Warchant’s FSU Community for $1 today

***Talk about this story with passionate Seminoles Basketball fans on the Seminole Hoops***