Opportunity lost ... again: Turnovers doom FSU in ACC loss to GT
On a night when the Florida State men's basketball team could never seem to hold onto the basketball, the Seminoles ended up letting an ACC championship slip away for the second consecutive Saturday.
One week after getting upset at Notre Dame to miss out on winning the conference's regular-season title, FSU committed a staggering 25 turnovers Saturday night in the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum in an 80-75 loss to Georgia Tech in the finals of the ACC Tournament.
The Seminoles, who were gunning for the second ACC tourney championship in school history, fall to 16-6 on the season. Georgia Tech improves to 17-8.
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Box Score: Georgia Tech 80, FSU 75
"Obviously we're extremely disappointed," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "Your hat goes off to a team that -- Georgia Tech was extremely scrappy. They kind of showed you what intensity and sound defensive principles [looks] like. It's very unusual for you to have a team that shoots 56 percent from the floor and 53 percent from three and 78 percent from the free-throw line, and then lose.
"But how you lose doing that well offensively is turning the ball over 25 times."
FSU has now lost three of its last five games entering next week's NCAA Tournament.
The Seminoles fell despite getting 21 points from freshman point guard Scottie Barnes, 15 from senior M.J. Walker and a second straight double-double from sophomore center Balsa Koprivica (11 points, 10 rebounds).
Georgia Tech was led by 20 points from Michael Devoe, 15 points apiece from Jordan Usher and Moses Wright, and 13 from Jose Alvarado.
Florida State actually led by nine points with 13:30 remaining, but the Seminoles continued to commit turnovers against Tech's zone defense, and the Yellow Jackets seized command with a 27-11 run. FSU turned the ball over seven times during that stretch alone.
"We've been a team that really has seemed to always light up when we see a zone defense," Hamilton said. "But for whatever reason tonight, we played with a lot of -- we played a lot like we were unsure of our cuts. We were unsure in our decision making as we attacked their zone defense. The uncertainty with which we executed I thought led us to a lot of turnovers.
"You've got to give them credit. They have a knack for forcing turnovers unlike anyone that we've seen, especially the ability to steal and knock the ball out of your hands and then not foul."
After not shooting any free throws in the first half, Georgia Tech made a living there in the second. The Jackets attempted 28 shots from the charity stripe and hit 21. FSU was 4-of-4 from the line in the first half 7-of-10 in the second.
"They drove the ball to the basket, and we were called for the fouls and I'm sure we committed some of them," Hamilton said. "We drove to the basket, and they were able to defend us without fouling. They did a much better job of not fouling than we did with them."
Florida State trailed at halftime by one point despite shooting better from the field and pulling down more rebounds than the Jackets. A woeful ballhandling and passing performance led to 14 first-half turnovers.
Of the Yellow Jackets' 31 points in the first period, 19 came as a result of Seminole turnovers. Georgia Tech scored 31 points off turnovers for the game.
On Sunday, both teams will learn their seeding for next week's NCAA Tournament. ESPN's Joe Lunardi has FSU projected as a No. 4 seed but that could be affected by Saturday's loss.
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