It wasn't pretty, but the Seminoles took care of business and avoided a three game losing streak in the ACC by beating the Hokies 63-58 at the Tucker Center last night. In a match up that featured two of the top defenses in the ACC, Florida State's defense held on long enough to get the Seminoles the win. Florida State held the Hokies to their second lowest point total of the season and the Hokies second wort offensive efficiency rating of the year. They also forced the Hokies into 18 turnovers, five more than their season average.
This was a big win for the Seminoles for a number of reasons. It stopped their two game ACC losing streak and kept them in the middle of the pack in the ACC. Virginia remains the only undefeated team in the ACC after their win over Miami. This was also a good win in that the Seminoles were able to endure the multiple runs that Virginia Tech put together trying to get back into the game. Each time Virginia Tech showed signs of life, the Seminoles were able to weather the storm, eventually closing out the game. The game flow chart illustrates this point well:
This was also a big game for Michael Snaer who hit two clutch free throws with 20 seconds left. Apparently, Virginia Tech tried to rattle the freshman.Snaer was calm and collected, hitting both shots, demonstrating the importance of this young man on the team. Snaer finished the game with eight points, seven rebounds and one assist in 26 minutes of play.
Solomon Alabi had another nice night for the Seminoles and lead the team with 13 points. He also pulled down eight rebounds and had two blocks. The other astonishing stat from the box score is that he played 32 minutes, which is excellent for a big man, particularly a seven footer. It's not easy to get that big frame up and down the court. Dulkys also had 13 points and went two for six from beyond the arc. However, as a team, the Seminoles only shot 4-17 from beyond the arc.
Chris Singleton had a wonderful night on the defensive end. He only finished the night with two points and had four turnovers, but he made up for it down the stretch with two monster blocks. He pulled down eight rebounds, had three steals and five blocks on the night. He was able to get Jeff Allen into foul trouble early and limited one of the Hokie's best players to only three points on the night with four turnovers.
Speaking of turnovers, the Seminoles returned to their old ways with 23 turnovers on the night. Singleton and Reid accounted for nine of those. Despite having a TO% of less than 20 for the past three games, the Seminoles TO% increased to a whopping 32.9%. Many of these were unforced, unnecessary mistakes: stepping out of bounds, sloppy passing. This also happened in a game that Virginia Tech played a good amount of zone defense against the Seminoles. This may be the strategy that more teams will take against the Seminoles in the future.
The Seminoles now get a week off before the Yellow Jackets visit Tallahassee. The Yellow Jackets are coming off big win at Chapel Hill over the Tarheels 73-71. The Yellow Jackets had a 16 point lead in that game but were able to hang on at the end. The Yellow Jackets face Clemson at home on Tuesday before making the trip to the Tucker Center.
Here are a few more charts to review from last night's game: