1/7/2023 basketball Edit

FSU men's basketball surges past Georgia Tech to get back above .500 in ACC

Curt Weiler • TheOsceola

Senior Writer

The Florida State men's basketball team seems to have found its home-court advantage once again.

The Seminoles were 1-4 at the Tucker Civic Center in non-conference play. With Saturday afternoon's 75-64 win over Georgia Tech (8-7, 1-4 in ACC), FSU (5-11, 3-2) improved to 3-0 in home ACC games this season.

Since FSU's 1-9 start, it has won four of the last six games it has played.

"I think our guys are understanding a little bit more of understanding what it takes to win at this level," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said after the win. "We're not in that much better condition than we were early in the year, but they understand now, we challenged them that they have to make sacrifices with the type of team that we have now. That means you have to give more effort and play through fatigue."

A big reason for the Seminoles' continued success was the same as it has been for many of their recent wins. Sophomore guard Matthew Cleveland was once again in rare — or maybe not so rare any more — form.

Playing against his hometown team, the Atlanta native posted his fifth straight double-double against the Yellow Jackets with 21 points and 12 rebounds, both nearly career-highs. It's the longest double-double streak by an FSU player since Douglas Edwards had five straight in the 1991-92 season.

Cleveland is now averaging 16.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in ACC play.

"Matthew is a warrior, there's no doubt about that," Hamilton said. "When you look in the dictionary and see the word unconquered, his face is in Webster's Dictionary right by that word. He's that kind of guy. He raises his level every game."

A second-half surge from FSU guard Darin Green Jr. turned what had been a closely-contested first half into a runaway win for the Seminoles. He scored all 18 of his points in the second half. He was 0 for 5 from three in the first half, but made his final four threes in the second half, finishing 4 of 10 from range.

"It's kind of hard to think about it when I've got so many people in my ear telling me to keep shooting..." Green said. "My teammates have confidence in me. My coaches have confidence in me. Coach (Stan) Jones called me over and told me to stop aiming my shot. I listened to him, kept shooting and they started falling in the second half for me."

These two keyed what was a successful all-around offensive showing from the Seminoles on Saturday. FSU finished the game making 49.2% of its shots.

The Yellow Jackets closed the game on a 10-0 run, making the final score appear closer than the game was. FSU led by as many as 22 points in the second half thanks in large part to opening the second half with a 16-4 run.

"We just couldn't stop the flooding, in a sense," GT head coach Josh Pastner said. "(Our lead) was dripping, dripping, dripping in the first half for awhile there. Then in the second half, it became flooding out of the faucet."

GT leading scorer Miles Kelly had 16 points in the first 7.5 minutes of Saturday's game, aiding the Jacket's hot start. He had no points the rest of the game, missing his final eight shots after he made all of his first six from the floor.

The win was also FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton's 600th career win and his 400th ACC win. Both are the most among active ACC coaches. He's just the fifth coach in ACC history to reach 400 conference wins, joining Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Dean Smith (North Carolina), Roy Williams (North Carolina) and Gary Williams (Maryland).

"To be honest with you, when I walked off the court, I didn't know it was 600 (wins) until the announcer said it on the microphone. I didn't even know that I was in that category. It's a tremendous accomplishment," Hamilton said. "When you look back at your career, it's not about the players. It's about the effort that they give, the relationship that you have with them.

"I'm happy that we're having some level of success here, but it's more important that we create an atmosphere that's conducive to learning as well as helping these guys graduate, get their degrees and put themselves in position where they can have a nice life and be good husbands, fathers, neighbors and citizens."

FSU grows into the game defensively

It took a few minutes for FSU to find its defensive footing against GT. The Yellow Jackets hit their first six shots and eight of their first nine, opening up a 16-7 lead over the Seminoles in the opening minutes.

Once GT started missing shots, though, it started doing so at a high rate, affected by an FSU defensive effort which grew into the game.

GT made just 4 of its final 18 shots in the rest of the first half after that hot start and then shot 36.7% in the second half and 40.4% for the game, making their remarkably strong start a distant memory.

"We called a timeout and we challenged our players like we have been doing all week. From that point on, I think they scored 10 points in the last 12 minutes of the first half," Hamilton said. "I thought that was the turning point."

FSU's chaotic defense disrupted GT by forcing 13 turnovers while the Seminoles committed just nine turnovers themselves.