FSU men's basketball holds off Louisville charge to snap losing streak

The Florida State men's basketball team survived an embarrassment Saturday.

After leading at Louisville by 15 points with just over nine minutes left, the Seminoles nearly gave the game away.

The Cardinals tied the game after responding with a 17-2 run. FSU never let Louisville take the lead, however, thanks to an impressive layup from Matthew Cleveland and some clutch layups from Jalen Warley.

After FSU scored two total points over a span of seven-plus minutes down the stretch, the Seminoles (8-16, 6-7 ACC) put up seven points in the final 96 seconds to escape with an 81-78 road win over Louisville (3-20, 1-11 in ACC) after Mike James missed an open would-be-game-tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds.

The win snaps FSU's three-game losing streak while also preventing Louisville from winning its second straight ACC game. It's also FSU's seventh straight win over Louisville and its fourth straight win at the KFC Yum! Center.

Team offensive effort from FSU

A big part of what helped FSU never trail against the Cardinals on Saturday was an all-around solid offensive showing from the Seminoles' starting lineup.

While FSU had just 13 points off the bench, all five FSU starters reached double figures with more than nine minutes left in the game.

Freshman forward Cameron Corhen put up 16 points for the second time in as many games this week, leading the way for the Seminoles. Cleveland was right behind with 15 points, his 17th straight double-digit scoring performance.

Jalen Warley continued to emerge offensively with 14 points on a very efficient 6 of 8 shooting. Finally, Darin Green Jr. and Caleb Mills had 12 and 11 points, respectively, and each hit three threes.

The Seminoles took advantage of a shoddy defensive start from Louisville to shoot 57.6% from the floor in the first half. However, they shot just 37.9% in the second half, dropping their game shooting percentage to 48.4%.

FSU overcomes more three-point defense woes

Once again, FSU's three-point defense was a problem Saturday against Louisville.

The Seminoles allowed Louisville to hang around in the game thanks to a remarkably efficient three-point performance as a team. While the Cardinals began the day having made just 32.6% of their threes this season and averaging 6.2 made threes per game -- both worse than 250th nationally -- U of L lit it up from range against FSU.

The Cardinals kept in striking distance in the first half thanks to a 7 of 16 start from three. They finished the game 10 of 28 from outside, anchored by four threes from forward Jae'Lyn Withers. It was the fourth straight game an FSU opponent hit 10 or more 3-pointers, although Louisville's shooting percentage was clearly not favorable.

Especially on the final play but in a few other instances as well, FSU definitely benefitted from U of L's shooting problems, leaving a few other open shooting chances, which were not converted.

Overall, FSU allowed the Cardinals to shoot 46.8% from the floor. That's Louisville's second-best shooting percentage among the nine games it has played in 2023.

The Seminoles' one saving grace was that they made the most of the turnovers they forced Louisville's offense to commit. FSU turned 11 U of L turnovers into 19 points off turnovers while the Cardinals had just five points off eight FSU turnovers.

After spending this week on the road, FSU will return home for a pair of home games next week. The Seminoles host Syracuse Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then Pittsburgh Saturday at noon.