TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The scene at Florida State's Civic Center was dismal before yesterday's game got underway. After a heartbreaking 66-60 loss to North Carolina dropped the unranked Seminoles to 3-6 in the ACC and their top rebounder Genesis Choice benched with a broken ankle, the Noles (11-10, 4-6 in the ACC) were looking for a pick-me-up--but were staring straight into the jersey's of No. 2 Duke.
Still, in an eerily quiet Civic Center, the Seminoles gave their fans a reason to cheer. FSU came out strong and overpowered the Blue Devils on both ends of the court for a full 40 minutes, earning FSU an 80-74 victory.
"It was pathetic. We played the worst basketball game I think I've ever seen," Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We were slowing everything we did and every pass we made and every pass seemed like it was a struggle like it was about a half second slow or late. And I don't have any excuse-I don't think the players have any excuse-for why that happened. We just didn't have what it took on this day, unfortunately.... This is a wake up call. We can't walk into the game thinking we can beat anybody. You learn from losses so that's what we have to do."
The Seminoles came out immediately with strong penetrations past Duke's defense. Shante Williams, a freshman guard for Florida State, had 13 points by the end of the first half, all achieved in shots within the perimeter.
In addition to strong guard penetration, FSU was able to find open lay-ups for their post players. Center Trinetta Moore, who replaced Choice in her starting position, tallied 15 points from the post on lay-ups over Mistie Bass and Monique Currie.
"They were playing really good team basketball," Blue Devils' head coach Gail Goestenkors commented on FSU's increase intensity since their performance against the Tar Hells. "Their post player in particular was 10 for 12 from the floor so they were utilizing their post a little bit more then they had beenæin the past they were more of a perimeter team. I thought Moore and Bradley worked really well together. And so having those two inside caused a lot of problems for Carolina and they certainly did for us as well."
On the opposite end, the Blue Devils appeared to be stuck on one play that was not working. Duke relied primarily on lobbing the ball over the Seminoles' interior defense to their post players, Brittany Hunter and Bass. But several attempts in the first half were overthrown or fumbled out of bounds, contributing to the Blue Devils' 16 total turnovers.
"We're better when we play together, when we have our inside-out attack or when we're all on the same page defensively," Beard said. "It wasn't there tonight and it was a lack of focus."
The Bass-Beard duo--between big ups from the post from the center and strong penetration from Beard--earned a total of 45 of the team's total points. Florida State played a much more balanced game. The Seminoles finished with five players in double figures.
"We haven't been playing our best basketball lately and we haven't had great practices so I hoped it wasn't coming," Goestenkors concluded. "In retrospect we played the way we've been practicing and that's not at the highest level and the level it needs to be to be successful in the ACC."
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