CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – For a couple of weeks, Florida State looked like the team some projected them to be. In an ACC where it was anyone’s guess who would come after North Carolina and Duke, some thought Florida State was as good a pick as any. With a seven-game winning streak, the Seminoles were on top of the ACC, now a target – now the hunted instead of the hunter. And on Wednesday night, they were successfully hunted as host Boston College beat them 64-60.
It wasn’t the Seminoles’ best night on either end, although they started out well enough. They jumped out to a 16-7 lead and then had a 23-10 lead later. They were stopping Boston College, especially when they came inside as they have a lot of length in their frontcourt and a defensive ace in Bernard James.
It was at that point that Boston College came alive behind the three-point shot, as the Eagles went on a 23-3 run to take the lead for the rest of the half. Even before that run, Leonard Hamilton wasn’t sure his team was at its best.
“Even though we were up 21-9, they were doing a much better job of executing their game plan with the talent they have,” Hamilton said. “They came closer to reaching their potential with their game plan than we did.”
James was in foul trouble later, and although he played 23 minutes and had good numbers, he was never the factor that he could have been against the young front line of the Eagles. He wasn’t alone in the struggles, as their best player, Michael Snaer, was 6-18 from the field on the night, including 1-7 from long range. The Seminoles shot below 40 percent from the field on the night, including 30 percent in the second half. For Snaer, it was a far cry from the winning streak, during which he shot over 57 percent from long range.
“I thought we got a lot of good looks, but for whatever reason, they wouldn’t go in the hole,” said Snae, who missed a couple of point-blank layups in the second half on one possession.
Turnovers have been an issue for this team, as they average over 17 per game. That number is skewed a bit by some very bad games in that department early in the season, however. Hamilton noted that during the winning streak, they cut down on their turnovers, averaging 14.5 and having a couple of games well below the season average. He also noted, quite accurately, that turnovers aren’t what cost them Wednesday night’s game.
“We got beat by a team that played better,” said Hamilton. “A young team like them, they played fearless, they played courageous, and we didn’t match their focus and their ability to execute.”
Florida State needed the recent ACC wins more than some teams might because of its non-conference resume. The Seminoles have a loss to Princeton, but their best win came against either of Auburn or UMass depending on your perspective. None of the other losses is terrible, but this is a team that needs to keep any other questionable losses down the rest of the way. That will help them make wins over Duke, North Carolina and Virginia relevant come Selection Sunday. Their recent success is something they need to handle better, including the fact that teams are now trying harder to beat them.
“We had a great focus for all seven of those games that we won,” said Snaer, referring to two stretches where the losses came in bunches. “We didn’t want to let the season slip away from us. We didn’t want to let the losses come at us again. Now, we get a little national recognition, and we didn’t handle it well.”
With Duke beating North Carolina later in the evening, the ACC had a three-way tie at the top that included Duke, Florida State and North Carolina. The Seminoles have good wins as part of that seven-game winning streak, and will have a chance for more. Surging Miami comes to Tallahassee on Saturday, and the Seminoles have to go to Miami later. They also host Duke and head to Virginia before the regular season is out.
As Wednesday night showed, however, other games remaining on the slate can’t be seen as likely wins. The Seminoles are now among the hunted, and they will need to be better the next time they are clearly favored than they did on Wednesday night.
