Florida State traveled to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Hoosiers for the first time since 1992 as part of the 21st annual ACC/Big Ten challenge. Heading into the evening, the ‘Noles had already beat three top-30 KenPom teams and secured the Emerald Coast Classic title. The newly ranked #17 Seminoles were looking to overpower the Hoosiers, but fell flat as Indiana went on to defeat the ‘Noles, 80-64.

The Seminoles put the pressure on Indiana out of the gates, scoring on their first three possessions and causing two IU turnovers within their first four possessions. Two buckets each from MJ Walker and Dominik Olejniczak gave FSU an 11-7 lead at the first media timeout. After two lackluster offensive performances in Destin, the ‘Noles started the night 5/7 from the field, but the efficiency wouldn’t last much longer.

The offensive production quickly faded as the starters came out of the game after the media timeout. The ‘Noles couldn’t produce a single point for nearly six minutes as the Hoosiers went on a 12-0 run to go up 16-11 at the U-12 media timeout. Walker picked up his second foul of the game with 10:28 remaining in the half as he rode the bench the last 10 minutes of the half.

RaiQuan Gray ended a drought of nearly eight minutes without an FSU FG on a jumper with 8:49 remaining in the half. Luckily for Florida State, they were down just four at the U-8 while doing basically nothing on offense.

The lack of production and turnovers caught up to FSU as the Hoosiers, specifically Devonte Green, started to find their rhythm from deep. Three straight threes from Green pushed Indiana’s lead to 14 late in the half. Green put up 14 in the half.

FSU finished the half with three straight FG’s to cut the lead to 11, with the Hoosiers up 41-30 at the break. The offense actually ended the half 50% from the field, but everything was going IU’s way. Indiana shot 58% from the floor, while making two more three’s and three more FT’s than FSU. The Hoosiers went into half with a remarkable 1.323 points per possession.

Devin Vassell, Malik Osborne, and Mj Walker drained three straight three’s right out of the locker room as FSU quickly cut the lead down to six. After going 2/8 from deep in the first half, FSU was 3/3 in their first three possessions of the second. IU led 47-41 at the first media timeout of the half.

FSU cut the lead down to four at the U-12 media timeout as RaiQuan Gray dropped in two buckets. The ‘Noles made seven of their first ten FG attempts in the half. IU burned their 2nd timeout of the game after an Anthony Polite three cut the lead to three with 10:12 remaining. FSU made four of their first 6 three point attempts in the half, looking like a completely different team from deep.

A bogus technical on Leonard Hamilton and a 3-pointer from Green pushed the lead back to seven after the TO. An emphatic put-back dunk from Osborne and a tough take from Forrest cut things back down to three at the U-8.

Indiana pushed their lead back up to 14 as they went on a 10-0 run as FSU couldn’t get any calls from refs nor a basket to drop. IU’s Damezi Anderson had the dagger shot on FSU as he dropped in his first three of the night with 3:23 remaining. A drought of 2:35 was all IU needed to put the ‘Noles away. Indiana went on to defeat the ‘Noles 80-64 behind Devonte Green’s career high 30 points.

Too many things went wrong for FSU tonight to give them a chance to win. IU put together three different runs of 14-1, 14-2, and 11-0. FSU also shot as poorly as possible from the line while IU went to the line 38 times in 40 minutes of basketball. The difference in the game was FT’s, with FSU making 16 less than Indiana. FSU has now played three games in five days away from home, all against top 30 teams. A 2-1 record is still pretty impressive if you ask me. The Hoosiers and the zebras were just too much for FSU to overcome tonight.

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