3/7/2023 basketball Edit

GT rallies, FSU cold late in season-ending loss at ACC Tournament

Matthew Cleveland suffered a first-half ankle injury but returned to the court in the second half. (USA Today Sports)

Bob Ferrante • TheOsceola

Editor

Florida State’s ugliest season in 20 years came to a quick end in the ACC Tournament.

Ja'von Franklin made a free-throw attempt with .2 seconds left, after he was fouled on a drive to the basket with Darin Green Jr. called for the over-the-back call, to give GT the 61-60 victory in the first game of the ACC Tournament on Tuesday in Greensboro, N.C.

The Seminoles (9-23, 5-12 ACC) led 29-18 with 15:53 to go but the lead and the season slipped away.

FSU last fell short of the 10-win mark in a season in the 2000-01 campaign under Steve Robinson. This Seminoles team lost seven of their last eight games.

"You have no idea how I feel every day I get up, because I feel like the buck stops with me," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We've got to be prepared for injuries. We've got to be prepared for youngsters exercising their right to make decisions to move on with their careers, even though it might not be the wisest thing to do. You've got to respect that, and I think sometimes as coaches, we don't -- we think about what's best for them and what's best for us.

"But sometimes we don't have the right to dictate, and we only can inform and have conversations with kids to help them navigate through the challenges that they have. I think that's one thing I could do a better job of is having direct communication and helping guys have the right information."

Cam Corhen had 12 points and a season-high 10 rebounds as the freshman recorded his first career double-double. Corhen had eight rebounds in the loss to Florida in November.

Miles Kelly scored 21 points for the Yellow Jackets (15-17, 7-14), who used just six players.

FSU was ice cold down the stretch, not scoring a point for the final two minutes and four seconds. The Seminoles led 60-55 on Caleb Mills’ 3-pointer with 2:04 left, but GT quickly erased the deficit as Miles Kelly hit a 3-pointer and Kyle Sturdivant made a pull-up jumper with 56 seconds left.

In the final minutes, Chandler Jackson was blocked at the rim and Darin Green Jr.’s heat-check 3-pointer missed. That set up a final set for the Yellow Jackets, with Franklin driving to the bucket and picking up the foul.

Green Jr. had 12 points on 4 of 14 shooting.

FSU lost Matthew Cleveland to an ankle injury in the first half, although he returned to open the second half. Cleveland had five points in the second half. Baba Miller also suffered an ankle injury in the second half.

Cleveland had some of his best games in the middle of the season, recording double-doubles in eight straight games. He also had a game-winning 3-pointer to defeat Miami on the road.

"We're a really talented team, and we have our days where we're really good and we have our days where we're inconsistent," Cleveland said. "It's just been like an uphill battle. But we see the positives are when we're really locked in, we can play with anybody, so that's my takeaways from this year."

'Next season starts today'

Hamilton has said he will hit the transfer portal to land 3-4 players to complement the returning roster.

"We have some really good pieces," Hamilton said. "I think we have a good foundation. To move forward, we just need to make sure we add the right ingredients to this team. Like we've never been this young before."

Hamilton said last week that Cam'Ron Fletcher and Jaylan Gainey are doing well in their rehabilitation process from knee surgeries. He thinks both could come back to add to the nucleus of freshmen and young players and complement the next wave of portal additions.

"Moving forward, we will be working hard to prepare for the unexpected so that we don't ever get caught in a situation like this," Hamilton said. "You've got to prepare differently. But I think we know exactly how we need to fix this. We've got to be on it.

"As far as I'm concerned, next season starts today. That's where we'll be placing all the emphasis as we move through this process."

The transfer portal opens on Monday, with graduate transfers able to jump in earlier.