Florida State's losing streak is now four games. And the Seminoles' list of injured key players appears to be even longer.
FSU came into Saturday's game against visiting Wake Forest missing three starters, and two players who started Saturday then went down with ailments of their own.
Unsurprisingly, even with a valiant effort and late second-half surge, the end result was another defeat -- 68-60 to the Demon Deacons -- which drops Florida State's record to 13-9 overall and 6-6 in the ACC. Wake improves to 19-5 and 9-4.
*** Don't miss our exclusive FSU sports coverage. 30-day Free Trial ***
Box Score: Wake Forest 68, FSU 60
In the last two weeks, FSU has lost senior forward Malik Osborne to season-ending surgery, junior center Naheem McLeod to hand surgery and senior guard Anthony Polite to a wrist injury.
Then on Saturday, starting freshman forward John Butler played only eight minutes after going down with a sprained ankle, and starting center Tanor Ngom missed long stretches with a minor knee injury. Ngom played just 13 minutes.
"It's unusual that you have this many injuries back-to-back-to-back," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "But all coaches, if you coach long enough, you'll go through these periods where you just shake your head and wonder where these basketball demons are coming from."
Even with a depleted lineup, the Seminoles cut what once was a double-digit deficit to one point on a Caleb Mills 3-pointer with less than four minutes to go. But FSU seemed to run out of gas down the stretch, and the Deacons pulled away to sweep the season series against the 'Noles.
It was Wake's first win in Tallahassee since 2008.
"That means that we're staying focused. That means that we're not giving in to having a pity party," Hamilton said of the late rally. "That says that we still are determined. ... So we've still got life in us. We've just got to keep positive and not allow the challenges of the injuries to become a negative for us. We've got to stay positive."
The loss dampened an inspired performance from senior walk-on Harrison Prieto, who set career highs in scoring and rebounding with the first double-double of his college career. He finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, including seven boards on the offensive end.
Alondes Williams led Wake Forest with 23 points and eight rebounds, and Jake LaRavia nearly recorded a triple-double -- he scored 18 points, grabbed 13 bounds and delivered nine assists.
FSU was able to stay in the game by forcing 26 turnovers, with 15 coming on steals, but the Seminoles couldn't overcome a poor shooting night by their starting backcourt. Guards RayQuan Evans, Caleb Mills and Matthew Cleveland combined to hit just 13 of 42 shots (31 percent) from the field.
Mills led the Seminoles with 15 points.
Hamilton said he believes his players struggled shooting -- FSU connected on just 7 of 34 shots in the first half -- because they put excess pressure on themselves to overcome the team's personnel losses due to injury.
FSU returns to action Wednesday against visiting Pitt.
Stay connected with Warchant.com for more on this story.
----------------------------------------------------
Discuss this with fans on Warchant's Seminole Hoops message board
