Jamir Watkins did what he could. But Florida State couldn’t defend the 3-pointer, struggled to rebound and missed at the free-throw line.

Watkins scored 26 points on 7 of 9 shooting from the floor and 9 of 11 from the free-throw line but Virginia Tech took an 83-75 win on Tuesday night. The redshirt junior surpassed 20 points for a second straight game after scoring 21 points in the loss to Virginia on Saturday.

But the Seminoles (13-11, 7-6 ACC) struggled overall and fell short in familiar areas as they lost for the fourth time in five games.

Hunter Cattoor led VT (13-11, 6-7) with 20 points, making four 3-pointers. The Hokies shot 11 of 23 from 3-point range. In a January loss in Tallahassee, VT made 11 of 23 3-pointers.

Lynn Kidd scored nine points and pulled down 14 rebounds, contributing to VT’s 35-23 rebounding edge. Watkins led FSU with six rebounds.

FSU also made just 19 of 29 (65 percent) of its free-throw attempts, including some tough misses late.

The Seminoles trailed late and were forced to foul, but VT made them pay and shot 28 of 32 (87 percent).

Darin Green Jr. scored 14 points on 4 of 8 shooting, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range. A few days after FSU shot 2 of 16 from deep in the loss to Virginia, FSU shot 6 of 15.

Baba Miller had nine points and three rebounds, while Cam Corhen had eight points and two rebounds. Primo Spears fouled out with six points.

FSU plays host to Duke on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN).