Same Old Story: Lack of Offense Leads to a Tourney Loss

Not since our loss to Duke in the 2009 ACC Championship game has FSU scored a point per possession in a post-season game. The opening round of this year’s ACC Tourney continued that trend, as the offense laid an egg in a 52-51 loss to Virginia Tech. Derwin Kitchen’s buzzer-beater was waived off after the officials reviewed the monitor, and now the Seminoles have to wait until tomorrow evening to find out where they’ll be heading for the NCAA Tournament. It will likely be as a double digit seed, and could potentially be in a play-in game.

Florida State turned the ball over 20 times in a 61 possession game. The game plan was clearly better than the first time these two teams met, as we repeatedly got the ball into the paint, but we were not able to capitalize. FSU was neither able to get to the line, nor convert 3 pointers on kick-outs (4 of 15). FSU’s 5 free throw attempts breaks a previous conference season low of 13.

FSUs defense played one of their best games of the season, limiting the conference’s third best offense to just 0.85 points per possesssion. The Hokies shot 32% from the field. This game was widely considered a play-in game for them, as most bracketologists had them eliminated with a loss.

Virginia Tech advances to play Duke in today's 2nd semi-final. It will follow the North Carolina/Clemson game set to tip at 1pm.