A comeback for the ages: FSU storms back in second half to reach Elite 8*
HOUSTON -- When asked earlier this week about Florida State's upcoming Sweet 16 showdown, Leonard Hamilton said it was going to be an enormous challenge for his team.
"Maryland is going to be a problem," the Seminoles' veteran head coach said.
It turned out he was right ... for awhile. But the Seminoles were finally able to solve that conundrum Thursday night in Houston, erasing a huge second-half deficit to pull off a thrilling, 81-78 overtime victory to reach the Elite Eight for the second time in three years.
"We refused to lose," said junior guard M.J. Walker, who sparked the comeback with 18 second-half points. "I knew once I got back into the game after the T-shirt gun incident that we had to turn it on. We had to find a way. I hit some shots. Devin hit some shots. Patrick had that block and dunk. And we just kept chipping away."
Walker missed the final six minutes of the first half after the Houston Rockets mascot, Clutch the Bear, lost control of his high-powered T-shirt gun when it recoiled after firing into the upper deck. The T-shirt gun flew out of his hand and hit Walker in the side of the head, opening up a cut that required six stitches.
"I'm fine now," said Walker, who hit four 3-pointers in the second half and finished with a team-high 23 points. "But I'll be honest, for a minute there, I wanted to fight Clutch. I knew that wouldn't look good, me tackling a furry mascot on national television, but these injuries are just getting ridiculous. I mean, how do you lose control of a T-shirt gun?"
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In the other locker room, Maryland's players were no doubt asking themselves, "How do you blow an 18-point lead in the second half?"
Because that's exactly what the Terrapins did.
Maryland, which shot 54 percent from the floor in the first half, led 39-25 at the break. When leading scorer Anthony Cowan Jr. hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game, the Terrapins had a 50-32 lead with 14:48 remaining.
It looked like the Seminoles' magical season was about to be over.
But that's when Walker said, "Not so fast."
Literally. To each player on the court and to Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon.
The junior then scored 10 straight points in a span of three minutes to cut the lead to single digits. And from there, the Seminoles continued to slice into the lead, eventually tying the game at 71 on a Patrick Williams put-back dunk with 44 seconds remaining in regulation.
"Obviously, I know this is my last season in college," said Williams, who made the unprecedented move of declaring for the NBA Draft the morning of a Sweet 16 game he was playing in. "And I was for-darn-sure not wanting it to come to an end against Maryland."
"Maryland? More like Divorce-land," Wyatt Wilkes said from the locker stall next to Williams. "Because we just split up that team. Forever."
Williams paused for a moment to stare at Wilkes in apparent disbelief.
He then resumed.
"And in the second half, I just thought we played with more energy," said Williams, who finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds. "And they started to wear down."
Asked why he announced on Thursday that he was going pro, Williams responded: "I was hoping it would get Coach Ham to start me."
It didn't. But Williams did end up playing 33 minutes in the win.
Ironically, so did Devin Vassell, who took over the game in overtime.
The sophomore guard, who earlier this week also made the unusual move of declaring for the NBA Draft while the tournament was still going on, scored eight of the Seminoles' 10 points in overtime. He finished with 17.
Vassell knocked down back-to-back 3s to start the extra period and then put the game away with two free throws with seven seconds left to extend the lead to 81-76. Maryland hit a meaningless layup at the buzzer as the Seminoles celebrated a berth in the Elite Eight.
"Maryland just couldn't miss in the first half," Vassell said. "And the Cowan kid can really play. But we're a second-half team. That's what Trent (Forrest) kept telling us in the locker room. He said, 'They haven't dealt with anything like us before. They haven't seen this. Keep attacking. Keep coming at them. They'll back down.' And he was right.
"Trent is such a great leader. He also tried to go find Clutch in the hallway so M.J. could shoot a T-shirt into his face, but we had to get back out on the court."
While it was Walker, with a bandage on the side of his head, who keyed the second-half comeback, every Seminole that played contributed at least one bucket. That included Wilkes, who hit a massive 3-pointer midway through the second half.
"That's just who we are," Hamilton said. "We win by committee. That's who we've been all year. Of course, nobody cuts down nets after winning three NCAA Tournament games, but we're excited to still be playing at this point. This team doesn't quit. It doesn't feel sorry for itself. It just keeps playing. That's how we've won 32 games so far.
"Now, would I like my underclassmen to wait until after the season is over to announce they're going pro? Of course. But hey, if they're going to keep playing like this, all my kids can start announcing. I don't care, baby. We're going to ride this out."
As he left the podium, Hamilton said with a smile to no one in particular: "Just don't let me see that Bear mascot walking around here either. He might catch some hands."
Florida State will now play Ohio State on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four. The Buckeyes, behind 22 points from FSU transfer C.J. Walker, knocked off No. 1 seed Baylor, 77-70, on Thursday.
"That's going to be a lot of fun," Forrest said of facing his old teammate. "He was a great teammate for two years. But now he's between us and the Final Four. We'll be friends afterward. We won't be friends for those 40 minutes."
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About this story
It was the best regular season in school history, and one that was punctuated with an ACC Championship and a No. 4 national ranking heading into the postseason.
Which is what made what happened next so frustrating and heartbreaking.
With the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament, Florida State's players, coaches and fans will never get to know just how far the Seminoles would've gotten.
Would more nets have been cut down? Would another trophy have been hoisted? Would Trent Forrest and the boys have had any more heroics left in them?
Well, it's time we find out ... with Warchant's 2020 What Could Have Been NCAA Tournament?
Here's the recap of FSU's first-round win over Belmont, and this is how the Seminoles knocked off LSU in the second round.
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