INDIANAPOLIS -- In an NCAA Tournament featuring a number of upsets already, the No. 4-seeded Florida State men's basketball team flirted with disaster Saturday in its first-round matchup with No. 13 seed UNC-Greensboro.
Yet despite not making one 3-pointer and letting the underdog Spartans control the tempo, the Seminoles pulled away late for a 64-54 victory.
FSU moves on to face No. 5 seed Colorado in the Round of 32 on Monday after the Buffaloes trounced Georgetown in their opening matchup, 96-73.
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"I think our defense was what won the game for us today," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "When you're not shooting real well and you turn the ball over, your defense can carry you in games like this, and this is what happened for us today."
Florida State was led by junior forward RaiQuan Gray with 17 points and 7 rebounds. The Seminoles also got 13 and 9 boards from sophomore center Balsa Koprivica.
Star senior guard Isaiah Miller led the Spartans with 17 points, and guard Keyshaun Langley added 16.
As has been a familiar scenario in recent games, FSU led by 16 points in the first half and 12 in the second but saw both advantages disappear due to scoring droughts and costly turnovers.
UNCG actually clawed to within one point with less than five minutes remaining, but the Seminoles made enough plays at both ends of the court to turn back the threat. The Spartans scored just four points in the last 4:50, as FSU turned up the heat with its "Junkyard Dog" defense.
"I think we just learned from our mistakes in the past," Gray said. "Obviously, these last few games the last couple weeks of the regular season ... you can go to Georgia Tech game, we were up in that game, and North Carolina game, and things like that. I think we just learned from our mistake. ...
"We limited our turnovers. We still turned the ball over a little too much today. But I think at the end of the day, we learned from our past games. Taking care of the ball when we needed to, getting quality shots, and like I said before, getting stops on defense."
Florida State improves to 17-6 on the season, while the Spartans end their campaign at 21-9.
The Seminoles won despite not hitting a single 3-pointer; they went 0-for-9 from long range. That's the first time they've accomplished that feat in three years.
Florida State outscored UNCG in the paint, 44-16.
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