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If the Florida State men's basketball team had played Wake Forest three days after that loss to Georgia Tech back in late January, I firmly believe the Seminoles would have won comfortably.
But that's not how this year works.
The No. 17 Seminoles didn't get to play the Demon Deacons -- or anyone else for that matter -- three days after that loss to the Yellow Jackets. Instead, because of COVID-19, they were shut down for more than a week and got to practice just three times in 13 days before taking on Wake Forest.
And it showed. Well, on one end anyway.
The Seminoles played quite well on offense in Saturday's 92-85 overtime victory. It was the defensive side of the court that was a problem. And frankly, that's to be expected when you go two weeks without playing a game.
We all remember the five-game win streak the Seminoles went on after their last COVID-related break. But even in that first game back, they gave up 73 points and 11 3-pointers to N.C. State. That was overshadowed by the fact that the Seminoles put up a staggering 105 points on 71 percent shooting.
It was a similar defensive effort to the one they delivered on Saturday against Wake. It's just that the offense wasn't the second coming of the 2017 Golden State Warriors this time, so the game was much, much closer.
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Florida State will likely have to play much better on the defensive end against No, 9 Virginia on Monday, but let's forget about that game for a moment and just enjoy the fact that the Seminoles -- despite a ridiculous shooting performance by Wake Forest's Jonah Antonio (23 points, 7-of-8 from 3-point range) -- were able to scratch, fight and claw for another overtime victory and improve to 11-3 on the season. They're now 7-2 in the ACC.
"I was very proud of our guys," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We got the stops we needed to get. We got some deflections and steals, came up with some big plays, hit our free throws down the stretch.
"That was good for us. Hopefully, our guys will utilize the intensity of this game and it will help us prepare for the game on Monday night."
We'll also get to Scottie Barnes' heroics in a second. First, I wanted to point out that the two biggest stretches of the game for the Seminoles came at the end of each half.
