Advertisement
basketball Edit

How Sweet it is! Seminoles advance to Sweet 16* again with win over LSU

TAMPA -- Two years ago, the Florida State men's basketball team shocked No. 1 seed Xavier to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Last year, the Seminoles took care of Ja Morant and Murray State in blowout fashion to get there.

On Saturday in Tampa, before a throng of Florida State fans that included some of the most famous athletes in school history, the Seminoles dominated the LSU Tigers, 83-58, to advance to their third straight Sweet 16.

Don't miss our great FSU sports coverage. Get your 30-day FREE trial


Malik Osborne let the whole world know about his dunk Saturday against LSU.
Malik Osborne let the whole world know about his dunk Saturday against LSU. (Associated Press)
Advertisement

The No. 2 seeded FSU men (31-5) now head to Houston to take on No. 3 seed Maryland on Thursday night.

"Obviously, you don't cut down any nets for winning two games in an NCAA Tournament," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "But I thought this was one of the best games we played all year. It just seemed like we played with great spirit and focus and effort. And I think that all had to do with the great amount of respect we had for LSU."

"LSU? More like LS-poo," said sophomore forward Wyatt Wilkes, who came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers in the first half. "As soon as I hit my first 3, I knew it was going to be a long day for them. They're an SEC school, and this isn't football. So I had a pretty good idea we'd be advancing. In fact, at halftime, I told the Green Viper squad to hydrate and get plenty of stretching in. Because I knew they'd be playing a lot in the second half."

The Seminoles raced out to a 12-2 lead early. M.J. Walker hit back-to-back 3s, and Trent Forrest and Devin Vassell combined for two alley-oop dunks in transition.

The Tigers never really recovered.

LSU shot just 31 percent in the first half and 35 percent overall. The Tigers also turned it over 19 times, which resulted in many, many dunks on the other end. Patrick Williams had four by himself. And Malik Osborne threw down a tomahawk dunk early in the second half that was punctuated by perhaps the longest celebratory scream in NCAA Tournament history.

It was more like a barbaric yawp, actually.

At one point, even his own teammates told him to calm down a touch.

"I had to tell him to chill out," forward RaiQuan Gray said with a smile. "I was shooting a free throw two possessions later and he was still screaming about that dunk. How long did that last? Three minutes?"

Give or take.

"I'm an emotional guy," Osborne said with a laugh. "And I've never gotten to play in an NCAA Tournament before. So I'm soaking it all in. I was excited. This team excites me. I know we can win the whole thing. I know it. We've got to take it one game at a time, obviously.

"But when we play like we did today, we can beat anybody. It doesn't matter. Baylor, Dayton, Kansas, LSU. If we're clicking like this, we can beat anyone."

Florida State led 44-23 at halftime, and LSU never got much closer.

Vassell scored 12 of his team-high 19 points in the first half. Gray had nine points and nine rebounds; Williams and Wilkes both had 14; Walker finished with 13 points and one sprained ankle; and Forrest had 10 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals as the Seminoles built the lead to as much as 33 points in the second half.

In fact, for the final eight minutes of the game, LSU head coach Will Wade was on his cell phone.

"I was calling the NCAA to see if we could go ahead and accept our postseason ban now," said Wade, who has been the subject of NCAA and FBI investigations in recent months. "FSU literally would not let us run our offense. It was embarrassing for us. But that's a great team Leonard has. They can win it all. When they play like that, they can beat anyone in the country.

"They have so many guys that can hurt you. We all know about Forrest and Walker and Vassell and Williams, but then Wilkes comes out and torches us. Osborne screamed at us all game. They got two 7-footers. Where does Leonard find these guys? It's unbelievable how well they played today."

Much to the delight of the thousands of Florida State fans in attendance.

Jameis Winston, who was wearing a Jacob Coker Alabama jersey for some reason, was two rows behind the Florida State bench. Deion Sanders, who was wearing a throwback Deion Sanders jersey, was in the same row with former FSU basketball greats Dave Cowens, George McCloud and Tim Pickett.

"It's great to get this kind of support," said Forrest, who is now playing in the third Sweet 16 of his career. "Seeing Jameis and Deion was great. But it was just great to see so many Florida State fans in general. We must have had 10,000 fans in here today.

"That's a huge advantage. And we're so thankful for it."

That's one of the benefits of being a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, of course. You get to play close to home.

That's not the case anymore.

Florida State will now be moving on to Houston to play Maryland, which beat defending national champion Virginia, 30-25, on Saturday in the lowest-scoring NCAA Tournament game since 1941 (the Terrapins held the Cavaliers to just four points in the second half).

The Seminoles are once again two wins away from the school's first Final Four since 1972.

"This has already been a special season," Vassell said. "We just want to keep riding this magic for as long as we can."

-------------------

* Reminder: Be sure to read these fictitious NCAA Tournament recaps while social distancing.

About this story

It was the best regular season in school history, and one that was punctuated with an ACC Championship and a No. 4 national ranking heading into the postseason.

Which is what made what happened next so frustrating and heartbreaking.

With the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament, Florida State's players, coaches and fans will never get to know just how far the Seminoles would've gotten.

Would more nets have been cut down? Would another trophy have been hoisted? Would Trent Forrest and the boys have had any more heroics left in them?

Well, it's time we find out ... with Warchant's 2020 What Could Have Been NCAA Tournament?

Here's the recap of FSU's first-round win over Belmont.

Don't miss our great FSU sports coverage. Get your 30-day FREE trial

Advertisement