Well, I can't say that I am surprised by the outcome. On the road against a talented team that just lost a game they shouldn't have (feeling like their backs are up against the wall) with a lot of length and a propensity to cause turnovers...all of that pointed towards a loss, but I was hopeful we would overcome it. This team has their moments, but they are not yet consistent with the effort and talent it takes to win regularly in the ACC.
What I liked:
-Miles Kelly coming back to life on the offensive end. 50% from 3, and 47% from the floor. I appreciate that he has not lost his confidence, and I hope this is a sign of good things to come.
-Kowacie Freaking Reeves. That guy hates losing and plays with max effort the whole game. I wish we had more like him. He played an excellent game, especially down the stretch.
-Breaking the press and rarely turning over the ball. We had only 10 TOs, which I thought was pretty good against FSU's length and pressure.
-Second half offense. We actually outscored FSU 52-50 in the second half. We pushed the ball up the court on TOs and misses, and got to the basket.
What I didn't like:
-First half offense. It was putrid, actually. Settling for bad shots, letting FSU set their defense every time down, not screening well or cutting hard. All these things collectively put us in a hole.
-Free throw shooting. We did a great job of getting to the line in the second half, but when we needed the points, we missed our FREE throws. 12 of 22 in the second half!
-The title of the thread. Bad things happen when we get that wrong.
Credit should go to FSU, who seemingly made every big shot they needed to keep the game at arm's length, including 11 of 14 FTs. Maybe we need to work on our free throw defense.
On to the BC game. I'm glad we get it at home. Go Jackets!