Florida State freshman point guard Scottie Barnes came up big in overtime of his second college game Wednesday night, hitting a running, contested jumper with 1.8 seconds left to give the No. 20 Seminoles a 69-67 victory over visiting Indiana.
Barnes scored only nine points in the entire game, but he also hit a huge 3-pointer earlier in overtime to tie the game at 65. He had five of the Seminoles' seven points in the extra period.
The victory improves Florida State to 2-0 on the season and drops Indiana to 3-2. It marks the Seminoles' first win against the Hoosiers in six all-time contests.
Box Score: No. 20 FSU 69, Indiana 67
Barnes, who was a five-star prospect coming out of high school and the highest-rated signee in Leonard Hamilton's tenure, barely offered a smile after hitting the winning shot on the court. And he wasn't overly excited in his postgame media session either.
"I'm just happy we got the win, to be honest, as a collective group," Barnes said, when asked about his heroic shot. "My teammates just kept telling me to be confident, keep going to the basket. So that's why at the end I just kept being aggressive, attacking."
The Seminoles were led by three players in double-figures -- senior guard M.J. Walker had 19, while junior RaiQuan Gray and sophomore Balsa Koprivica each added 12 -- and they needed all of that to offset a monster performance by Indiana sophomore forward Trayce Jackson-Davis.
Jackson-Davis finished with 25 points and 17 rebounds and tied the game with two free throws with 8.7 seconds remaining.
But after taking the ensuing inbounds pass and calmly dribbling up the court, Barnes drove into the body of Indiana guard Armaan Frankin, hung high in the air and then banked in the winning basket.
The victory pushed FSU's home winning streak to 25 consecutive games. The 'Noles have now won 40 straight home games against non-conference opponents.
They also have won 10 consecutive overtime games.
"I think it's obvious that we're a team that still needs some work," Hamilton said. "I thought Indiana did a much better job executing their game plan than we did. ... I'm not sure we outplayed this team. But we played well enough to win the game."
FSU won this game despite a woeful performance at the free-throw line. The Seminoles connected on just 11 of 21 free throws, as opposed to 21 of 28 for Indiana.
Florida State did hit a number of big shots from the field, however. Koprivica grabbed a huge offensive rebound and put-back in overtime to give the Seminoles a 67-65 advantage with less than two minutes remaining.
Walker also hit a deep 3-pointer with under a minute left in regulation to give FSU a 62-61 lead.
Florida State returns to action Saturday against visiting Florida at 11 a.m. ET in the Tucker Center.
