February 21, 2024
#19 Florida State (19-5, 6-5 ACC) at #22 North Carolina (15-7, 6-5 ACC)
TEAM: FSU|UNC
OVR: 93|94
OFF: 92|94
DEF: 92|95
SHT: 94|95
REB: 92|91
COA: 91|91
This is a huge game. Every game is huge for us given the level of competition we have left on the schedule, but we're in a 3 way tie for 5
th in the ACC right now. Play well and a top 4 finish and a bye could still be in our future. Play poorly and we could still finish 8
th or 9
th easily.
Our first contest was pretty heartbreaking, but in the opposite way that our horrible loss to Clemson was heartbreaking. Here we came back from 13 down in the final 3 minutes, only to lose in OT. PG Troester scored 28 for them, and PF Andres put up 20 in the first meeting. On our end, Mayer gave us 18 but struggled with his consistency, coming up empty quite a lot, having just one good stretch in the game. McCants gave us 18 as well but fouled out in OT. Their 3-2 zone lulled me into taking tons of 3's, and not getting McCants(who shot 9-12) nearly enough touches. Also we need to try repeatedly to drive and try to draw fouls. The lanes are big against the 3-2, I can't give up if Mayer gets stuffed a couple times.
Their SF Coombs has a dislocated finger coming into the game. Hopefully that slows him a bit.
Scouting
PG Daryl Troester – SR – 89 OVR – 95 speed/88 quickness – 88 defense/87 steals. 88 hands/90 passing. 89 close/78 med/90 3/88 off the dribble/87 in traffic. Incredible leaper and hustle (93/93, both A's). Ok, but not special awareness, low 70s on offense and defense. 12.1 ppg/2.9 apg. A great shooter who can score from all over.
SG TR Stockman – SO – 85 OVR – 92 speed/93 quickness – 90 defense/79 steals. 94 close/75 med/75 3/85 in traffic. More of a penetrator than a shooter, but he can still hit the 3 if we leave him open. Poor athleticism and just average awareness. 8.3 ppg, the lowest of any starter
SF Nigel Coombs – SR – 88 OVR – 91 speed/81 quickness. 85 defense/74 steals. 84 close/79 med/87 3/82 off the dribble/89 in traffic. Good athleticism and good awareness on both ends. Only 11.6 ppg in their balanced attack, but this is a guy who's going in the Lottery who can go off for a lot of points at any time.
JR Shagari Andres – JR – 86 OVR – 6'9” PF – 85 orb/89 drb. 81 post off/80 post def. 84 blocks, very good there. 90 close/86 in traffic. 80 str, solid there. Good awareness, 76 off/77 def. A complete player on both ends, leading the team in points and rebounds, 13.5 ppg/6.7 rpg.
C Spanky Powers – JR – 84 OVR – 6'8” PF – 87 orb/83 drb. 91 post off/81 post def. 87 close/83 in traffic, good athlete, good awareness. He's not the first option but he is capable of putting up good numbers inside too. Hopefully our size advantage counts for something here with McCants going up against him. 8.9 ppg/3.9 rpg.
Half
| Time
| FSU
| UNC
| Notes
|
1
| 15:00
| 7
| 9
| Day has a 3, McCants 4 inside. SG Stockman has 2 quick fouls for UNC and sits, that is their only two fouls. Millar and McCants both pick up quick fouls for us.
|
1
| 11:50
| 10
| 13
| We go up 10-9 but UNC scores 4 straight, I have to get a timeout, Day and McCants are exhausted. Mayer has just 1 point, unable to drive to the hoop on his two fast break attempts, 1-2 at the line and 0-1 from 3. Backups are in.
|
1
| 6:05
| 15
| 23
| We had it at 3 just about 30 seconds ago, but 5 quick points for UNC has us down 8. I call a timeout to get our starters back in. SF Coombs and his dislocated finger are burning us for 7 points
|
1
| 3:50
| 18
| 31
| Man fuck UNC. I remember why I took half my shots from 3 last game... you pass the ball into the post and 4 people converge on you so you shoot right away or you kick out for 3's. And when you don't hit those 3's you lose, end of story. A backcourt turnover has UNC getting a 6th man boost, I call a timeout to kill it. But we're down 13 and playing awful.
|
| HALF
| 25
| 38
| Horseshit. GAH. We score 5 straight to make it 35-25, Mayer draws a foul on Coombs and is on the line with 2.5 seconds left. He misses both free throws, they rebound, outlet to midcourt and a shot from halfcourt is good as time runs out. UGHHHHHhh.
UNC shoots 14-21, 8-8 from the line. They're only 2-6 from 3, which means 12-15 from inside the 3 point line. Coombs has 9, two backups have 6, Andres 5.
We are shooting 9-21, and we only have 5 rebounds all half. They have 16... We cannot get away from the 3's. We're 4-12 from 3, not a terrible % but if we're going to take that many we need to make a couple more. And I don't see how to avoid taking that many. McCants is 5-7 but I am working my ass off to get him those 7 shots. So often they converge, they have 5 steals, all of them are in the paint while I try to figure out what to do in the post.
McCants has 10, Day 6, Mayer 4. Mayer is 1-3, also 1-4 at the line. Only one shot inside the 3 point line and it was no good. In transition he absolutely cannot drive by their guards that get back, it is not happening at all. He can get by Coombs when he's lined up against him, but not every time and in the course of a play tht doesn't help a lot b/c I usually have guys cutting, etc. So its not always best to try that. I need them to miss a lot more, and I need something to change, but I can't even identify what other than shoot better.
|
2
| 17:30
| 29
| 46
| They get a 3 point play on the first play of the 2nd half, and it looks like its just going to get worse from there. Coombs hits a 3 and I call a timeout.
|
2
| 13:50
| 34
| 54
| The lead is 20 now. McCants has missed his last 4 shots. Day hit a 3, I have no idea where we got our other points, probably UNC scored them out of pity. UNC is 7-11 so far this half. We are 3-9. Our other solid option for offense is to his a cutter around the free throw line and to attack. But we're just getting blocked when we do that, McCants is 1-4 trying that so far, Millar 0-1.
|
2
| 13:15
| 36
| 56
| McCants picks up his 3rd foul. I call a timeout after they score to get my backups in.
|
2
| 10:10
| 47
| 62
| Modica hits 2 straight threes, Porter hits one, and we're not stopping UNC, but we're trading 3 for 2, and have the lead down to 15.
|
2
| 8:45
| 52
| 62
| Two stops in a row! Dearman hits a 3 and we've made 4 straight 3's, then Jolly on the secondary break hits a layin and the lead is down to 10, go go backups.
|
2
| 6:00
| 59
| 69
| We briefly had the lead down to 8, but they get it to 10. I have to get my starters back out, the backups are gassed. But they did a great job cutting a 20 point lead in half, almost entirely by getting hot from 3. If McClurkin and Day stay cold I won't hesitate to bring Modica and Porter in in a couple minutes.
|
2
| 3:40
| 63
| 69
| All of a sudden its all defense. We get 4 straight stops/turnovers, but are having to fight like hell for anything... Day misses a 3, Mayer is stuffed inside, finally Mayer does get a layup in transition, and then McClurkin draws a foul and hits 2 at the line. We trail by only 6 now. UNC takes a timeout.
|
2
| 2:42
| 65
| 71
| We cut it to 4 after a steal and layup by McClurkin. We get a stop and have a GREAT chance to cut it to 2 and McCants dinks a 5 footer off the rim. They get on the run and draw a foul, hitting two free throws, ending our 6-0 run and going back up by 6.
|
2
| 1:35
| 65
| 71
| Mayer gets two good looks in the post but misses both, UNC ball with 1:30 left.
|
2
| 1:10
| 65
| 73
| Heh. They score on their end, and foul Mayer at the top of the key, just a reach in as I'm going through a play. Its their 7th foul, and yeah, remmebe,r Mayer is wildly inconsistent at the line. Miss.
|
2
| 0:50
| 67
| 73
| We get a stop and attack, Mayer draws a foul and this time makes both free throws, we trail by 6.
|
2
| 0:47
| 67
| 75
| They can run the game down to 17 seconds, which we don't want down 6... we start fouling now.Troester makes 2.
|
2
| 0:37
| 70
| 75
| Day hits a big 3.
|
2
| 0:35
| 70
| 77
| Troester hits 1, and 2.
|
2
| 0:21
| 72
| 78
| McClurkin misses a 3, we foul right away, Andres hits just one of two. I rather blindly outlet to Day who catches the ball going to the rim, so I follow through with the layup instead of trying to pull it back out.
|
2
| 0:20
| 72
| 80
| Troester is a great FT shooter. 2 more.
|
Day misses a 3 and its over.
#23 North Carolina 82
#19 Florida State 72
The backup squad did a great job trying to get us back in the game but we just dug ourselves too big a hole. Very frustrating to play against. I hate feeling like I'm completely reliant on hitting 3 pointers, but the other things that work against the 3-2 zone were simply not working at all. When a team has good post defenders, the bigs in the 3-2 zone can be extremely imposing and prevent one from driving in on them reliably. And that limits things to 3's and post passes, but they converge in the post so fast it is hard to get good post looks.
Solid, balanced play from UNC. Coombs with 17, Stockman 12, Troester 12, though 8 of those were sealing the win. Powers 11, Andres 8. They shoot nearly 60%, 29-51. We're 24-54, though we end up a pretty solid 11-29 from 3.
McClurkin: 4 points (0-5 from 3)
Day: 14 points (4-7 from 3)
Mayer: 10 points (3-10)
Millar: 2 points/4 boards
McCants: 14 points/7 boards (6-14)
Porter: 9 points
Modica: 6 points
Dearman: 5 points
freaking UNC.