How it Happened: Indiana improves to 4-0 with hard-fought road win over Florida State

In Indiana’s first road game of the 2025 season, the Hoosiers earned a 76-72 victory over the Florida State Seminoles in a game that was decided in the final minutes.

IU needed fourth-quarter execution to get it done, and it was the more poised team down the stretch. Despite FSU going ahead by nine in the third quarter, the Hoosiers stayed composed and made the right plays to secure a hard-fought victory away from home.

Guard play was the difference, as Lenee Beaumont and Shay Ciezki combined for 45 points, with Beaumont scoring 23 and Ciezki contributing 22. Beaumont, in particular, was extremely efficient, going 8-for-12 from the floor and 3-for-3 from deep.

Indiana totaled 27-for-56 as a team, while Florida State went 25-for-63 in a much worse shooting night. The Hoosiers played great defense for most of the contest — especially when it mattered most.

When it was all said and done, Indiana was victorious for the fourth straight game. Winning on the road is never easy, and even though it wasn’t perfect, the result itself was an incredibly positive sign for this team moving forward.

With that, here’s how it happened down in Tallahassee.

Indiana’s defense impresses early

Last time out against Marshall, Indiana was frustratingly inconsistent on the offensive side of the ball, and it rode its defense to a victory. It looked like that could be the case once again, as the Hoosiers locked up FSU early on.

The Seminoles scored just 12 points in the opening quarter and shot 5-for-19 from the floor. Indiana guarded the perimeter well, and even though it got outrebounded, FSU struggled to score.

Compared to Wednesday night vs. Marshall, the offense was much improved, but it was still the defense that stood out in the first half. Florida State made just 11 baskets in the first 20 minutes, allowing the Hoosiers to lead by three at the break.

Indiana won the turnover battle 8-5 behind its impressive defense, and the Hoosiers scored nine points off FSU’s giveaways. IU was turning defense into offense, and it was incredibly important in the first half.

The Seminoles kept putting up shots, but not many of them fell. Indiana wasn’t much better offensively, and because of that, its halftime lead can be attributed to the work on the defensive end.

Florida State dominates third quarter

While Indiana maintained an advantage throughout the entire first half, that wasn’t the case in the third quarter. Florida State dominated most of the action and ended up going ahead by as many as nine.

The Hoosiers began the quarter impressively, leading by eight with a little more than seven minutes left in the third, but then the Seminoles went on their run.

Across six minutes and 10 seconds of game time, Florida State turned an eight-point Indiana lead into a nine-point advantage of its own. It was a 20-3 extended run, which included an 11-0 stretch where the Hoosiers looked completely out of sorts.

FSU scored 27 total points on 10-for-16 shooting in the third. Even without making a 3-pointer, its ability to get out in transition was the difference. The Hoosiers weren’t great at responding, but they did enough to cut the Seminoles’ lead to six heading into the fourth.

This was more like the Indiana team we saw at Marshall, and it seemed as if the Hoosiers were on their way to suffering their first loss of the 2025-26 regular season. The momentum was clearly in Florida State’s favor, and Indiana would need an apt response to get it done on the road.

Hoosiers execute in fourth quarter to claim victory

Indiana may have been outscored by nine in the third, but it outscored Florida State by 10 in the fourth, allowing for the clutch win in Tallahassee.

FSU led by as many as seven in the quarter, going up 57-50 with nine minutes left. Indiana responded by scoring nine straight, taking the lead and completely changing the complexion of the final stretch.

It was clear this one was going down to the wire, and Indiana made the bigger plays late. Ciezki took over and scored 12 points in the final quarter, including a huge 3-pointer that put the Hoosiers up seven with less than three minutes to go.

Florida State cut Indiana’s lead back down to two with 1:30 remaining, but the Hoosiers answered on a Zania Socka-Nguemen putback. On the defensive end, Indiana stepped up and prevented Florida State from making a big play in the final minute.

Winning on the road is never pretty, but Indiana being able to get it done against FSU says a lot about Teri Moren’s ballclub. It’s a tough group, and it was incredibly impressive down the stretch.

The Hoosiers are 4-0, as their perfect season stayed alive with a tough win over the Seminoles.

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