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Published Mar 28, 2021
Seminoles' season ends in Sweet 16 with blowout loss to Michigan
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Ira Schoffel  •  TheOsceola
Managing Editor
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@iraschoffel

The Florida State Seminoles probably needed a few things to break their way to knock off No. 1 seed Michigan in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

They got none.

Star forward RaiQuan Gray missed nearly the entirely first half with foul trouble, the Seminoles' once-impressive 3-point shooting again went AWOL, and their turnover issues put them in an 11-point halftime hole, from which they would never recover.

The Wolverines dominated No. 4 seed FSU in all phases Sunday at Bankers Life FieldHouse, cruising to a 76-58 victory that will send them back to the Elite Eight.

This marks the second time in four seasons that the 'Noles saw their season end in a tournament loss to Michigan; they fell by four points in the 2018 Elite Eight.

The Wolverines improve to 23-4, while FSU's season ends at 18-7.

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Box Score: Michigan 76, FSU 58

After trailing by double-digits early in the second half, Florida State cut its deficit to five points on back-to-back 3-pointers by Malik Osborne and Anthony Polite. But after that, it once again was all Wolverines.

They led by as many as 22 points and absolutely dismantled the Seminoles' vaunted defense in the second half. Michigan connected on 12 of its first 14 shots of the second half and finished the game shooting nearly 70 percent in the second period.

FSU's top scorers were Osborne with 12 points and M.J. Walker with 10.

The Seminoles did a decent job defensively on star freshman center Hunter Dickinson, limiting him to 14 points, but the Wolverines got balanced scoring and a career performance from junior forward Brandon Johns Jr.

Despite averaging just 4.5 points per game for the season, Johns Jr. finished with a season-high 14 points and six rebounds on Sunday.

Florida State only committed four turnovers in the second half, but by that time, the damage had been done. The Seminoles turned the ball over 10 times in the first half, leading to 16 Michigan points.

It was Florida State's most lopsided loss of the season by far and worst since 2018, when the Seminoles lost by 18 at North Carolina.

Stay connected with Warchant.com for complete postgame coverage from Indianapolis.

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