Spirited second half not enough as FSU Basketball falls to Louisville, 89-81

Florida State hit the road this weekend to take on the 25th-ranked Louisville Cardinals, a team that has been rolling since ACC play started, winning 14 of their last 15 games. FSU would have to be playing their A-game for a chance at another road upset.

Any chance of an upset looked difficult almost immediately. Florida State didn't make a field goal until nearly 5:30 into the game. After an 8-0 run to start the game for Louisville, FSU could get the lead down to three twice. On that second opportunity, Louisville then broke the game open with a 12-2 run to take a double-digit lead and they wouldn't look back.

Another 8-0 run by Louisville gave them a 20-point lead with 5:07 to play in the first half. FSU kept turning it over, the Cardinals were getting to the free-throw line and making threes, and J'Vonne Hadley was getting whatever he wanted. Alier Maluk helped FSU chip into the lead a little bit, but it was still a 45-31 halftime lead for Louisville. Florida State had 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, a wild number out of them.

Florida State started finding some success on the interior with quick screening actions. Louisville was heavy-hedging all screens, and FSU was quickly bailing on the screen, which gave Malique Ewin some easy buckets down low. Chandler Jackson was able to get to the basket (he had an and-one wiped about by a questionable travel call), and then Daquan Davis hit a three on the wing to cut the lead to eight, the first time the lead had been under 10 since the first 10 minutes of the game.

Louisville got a last-second bucket before the under-16 timeout, but FSU was still chipping away. Jamir Watkins converted an and-one to cut the lead to seven after the timeout. The momentum kind of changed once Taylor Bol Bowen missed a layup after a beautiful backdoor feed by Malique Ewin. That let Louisville get back to an 11-point lead a few times, but a few minutes later, Jerry Deng hit a three from the wing to cut the lead to six.

The lead would bounce around six or eight for the next few minutes, but two straight baskets out of the under-eight timeout gave Louisville a 12-point lead.

Chucky Hepburn would hit a dagger heave of a three to push the lead to 15 with about 4:20 to go as the shot clock was expiring, but a quick 7-0 run by the 'Noles, closed off by a three from the corner by Taylor Bol Bowen, had the lead down to eight with 2:18 to play. Not an impossible comeback, but not a likely one.

FSU got a stop and a score to cut it to six with 1:31 to go, but Terrence Edwards pushed it right back to eight. After a Daquan Davis bucket, FSU started to play the foul game against some good free-throw shooters. Louisville went 1/2 at the line, but forced an FSU turnover, and would go 2/2 at the line to essentially ice the game. Louisville would go on to win 89-81.

Jamir Watkins led the Seminoles with 23 points, followed by Malique Ewin with 19 points and 9 rebounds on 9/10 FGs. Daquan Davis was also in double figures with 10 points.

Chucky Hepburn led Louisville with 29 points, making a program-record 17 free throws (and Louisville fans were somehow mad about the officiating). J'Vonne Hadley had a big game with 18 points and 11 rebounds, as did Terrence Edwards Jr. (16 points) and Reyne Smith (11 points).

FSU did just about everything I asked them to do. Jamir Watkins had a big game, Louisville shot just 7/21 (33.3%) from three, and the 'Noles were 28/42 (66.7%) on 2s. But the turnovers (14) and the massive free-throw differential (34 attempts for Louisville, 17 for FSU) were too much to overcome.

Florida State will host North Carolina as part of a Big Monday matchup on ESPN two days from now.