FSU men’s hoops gets run out of Cameron Indoor as Noles fall to Duke 100-65

Florida State men’s hoops (16-13, 7-11) picked up their worst loss of the season on Saturday as the Duke Blue Devils (26-3, 16-1) drubbed them 100-65. The Noles came into the night shorthanded without Malique Ewin, who missed out with a foot injury. With a sizeable talent gap between the two teams before Ewin’s absence, FSU could not recover. Duke went up by 22 at one time in the first half, before blowing the game open with a 34-point advantage in the second. The Blue Devils took what the FSU defense gave them, which meant chucking up threes and drawing fouls. DU shot 19 three-point attempts in the first half and 11 in the second, draining eight. Along with their outside stroke, Duke hammered FSU on the glass like virtually every team this season, grabbing 12 offensive rebounds in the first and nine in the final 20. Above all, Florida State could not guard without fouling, putting the Devils into the double bonus at the 11-minute mark of the second half, and committing 25 fouls for the game. Jamir Watkins led FSU with 21 points on 8-18 shooting, eight rebounds, and three assists. Jerry Deng was the only other Seminole in double figures with 12, putting up one of his best games of the season.

1st half:

Florida State kept it close to open the game and only trailed by two midway through after Cooper Flagg went to the locker room with an eye issue. However, the Blue Devils ripped off two massive runs in the opening stanza, including a 14-0 blitz at one point that opened their lead up to 22, the largest of the game for them at the time. The Blue Devils did an excellent job taking care of the ball as they did not turn it over once, which kept Florida State from generating any easy offense. Jerry Deng’s bench scoring helped the Seminoles keep touch and he finished the opening 20 with eight points, tied for the team lead. Leonard Hamilton’s team trailed 47-30 at the break.

2nd half:

After cutting the deficit to 12, Duke hit the Seminoles with a knockout blow a few minutes into the second half. The Blue Devils devastated FSU with a 15-0 run over 2:41, by getting to the line, hitting outside shots, and forcing turnovers. The lead ballooned to 28, before Jamir Watkins and Deng stopped the bleeding. After a few minutes of back-and-forth basketball, Flagg captained another Blue Devil onslaught as Duke took a 32-point advantage, officially putting the game to bed. Hamilton pulled the plug on the starters at the 3:25 mark of the second half.

Takeaways:

– As mentioned in the open, the Noles’ issues with defensive rebounds torpedoed the 24-25 season. Even before the game got out of hand, most of Duke’s runs started from pounding the glass and grabbing offensive rebounds. Less than a week after being outscored 16-0 on second chance points against UNC, the Blue Devils won that category 17-5.

– While it is impossible to know what FSU’s roster will look like next year, Florida State should try to retain Jerry Deng next season. The Hampton transfer knocked down 12 points and went 3-5 from three, most coming off a catch-and-shoot. FSU needs more spot-up shooting in the lineup, and a veteran forward that can fill a three-and-D role will be valuable next season.

– Watkins dropped 22 points on 18 shots as he was FSU’s only source of offense or a player that could create his own shot. Most impressively, he competed hard on the defensive end, and never let the score dictate his body language.

Up Next:

Florida State plays its final road game of the season against Virginia on Tuesday night at 9 PM.