Seminoles slam Colorado, advance to third straight Sweet 16
INDIANAPOLIS -- Make it three straight trips to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. And this might be the sweetest trip of all.
The No. 4 seed Florida State men's basketball team, which has been struggling in recent weeks, broke out of its funk Monday night and slammed No. 5 seed Colorado, 71-53, at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum
The Seminoles, who improved to 18-6 on the season, are going to a third consecutive Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.
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Box Score: Florida State 71, Colorado 53
Thanks in large part to a career performance from junior guard Anthony Polite, the Seminoles blew open what was just a four-point halftime lead.
Polite led the Seminoles with a career-high 22 points, and forward Malik Osborne added 11 points and 5 rebounds. Junior forward RaiQuan Gray added nine points and six boards.
"It's probably my best game, definitely statistic-wise, Polite said. "I'm going to keep giving my effort at 100 percent, keep coming out with a defensive mentality. And seeing shots go in is just going to boost my confidence, keep shooting them. Defense first. That's what got us here. That's what's going to keep making us win, and that's how I'm going."
The Seminoles also turned in another brilliant defensive performance, limiting Colorado (23-9) to 53 points two days after the Buffaloes scored 96 against Georgetown.
"You can simulate certain things preparing for Florida State, but you cannot simulate their length," Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. "They are very long and very athletic. We knew they were going to pressure us. I did a bad job preparing our team for the pressure that was coming. We've faced pressure before, and we've faced switching defenses before and we've handled it better before. We didn't handle it very well tonight."
After going into halftime with a 24-20 advantage, Florida State extended that lead to eight points early in the second half. But the Buffaloes responded with a run of their own, including back-to-back 3-pointers, to make it 36-35 with 11:51 remaining.
After that, it was all Seminoles. FSU went on a 25-10 run, capped off by a Scottie Barnes layup, with less than four minutes remaining to remove any doubt.
Against Florida State's swarming man-to-man defense, Colorado connected on just 35.7 percent of its shots from the field and 24.0 percent (6 of 25) from 3-point range.
Colorado came into the game after delivering one of the most impressive performances in the first round, hitting 16 of 25 3-pointers against Georgetown.
Florida State forced the Buffs into 19 turnovers while committing 15 of its own.
Colorado's star point guard, McKinley Wright IV, finished with 10 points and connected on just 4 of 12 shots from the field. He was credited with one assist and five turnovers.
"He's one of best point guards on the West Coast," Polite said. "And he's very ball dominant, and we try to keep the ball away from him as much as possible. And it frustrated him."
FSU will play No. 1 seed Michigan on Sunday in the next round. That game time is set for 5 p.m. ET on CBS.
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