Florida State played on short rest, less than 22 hours after an emotional win over Virginia Tech.
But the Seminoles were outplayed, often showing a lack of effort on the defensive end in allowing North Carolina to get to the basket and pull down rebounds with ease.
RJ Davis scored 18 points but it was UNC’s rebounding — Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram had 10 apiece — that helped the top seed dominate FSU 92-67 on Thursday afternoon. Led by Bacot and Ingram, UNC outrebounded FSU 48-22.
FSU (17-16) did finish above .500 but it wasn’t the finish in February and March that the Seminoles were seeking (5-8 mark in those months). And it likely won’t be good enough to make the NIT, although that will depend in part on how many ACC teams make the NCAA Tournament when the field of 68 is selected on Sunday. The NIT bids will go out later that night and those ACC schools that miss out on the NCAA Tournament will be more attractive to the NIT committee than FSU.
If this was indeed it for the 2023-24 team, it was a decent fight for a good chunk of the first half but not nearly enough. And playing with a tired roster, FSU’s coaches chose to play forwards Jaylan Gainey (eight minutes), Taylor Bowen (six minutes, early foul trouble) and De’Ante Green (four minutes) when they could have given FSU’s core rotation more rest.
The Seminoles were outrebounded badly throughout the year, including both regular-season losses to UNC, but Wednesday’s game showed a combination of FSU’s tired legs and effort that wasn’t nearly good enough against a deep Tar Heels frontcourt.
Primo Spers scored 17 points on 7 of 13 shooting to lead FSU.
Jamir Watkins had 12 points and four rebounds, extending his streak of consecutive games with double digits to 19.
Jalen Warley had 10 points and three rebounds, while Baba Miller had seven points and four rebounds.
While the rebounding numbers told much of the story, UNC held FSU’s top scorers in check. Watkins shot 3 of 11, Warley shot 4 of 10 and Darin Green Jr. was 2 of 10.
FSU shot 25 of 61 (41 percent) from the floor and 4 of 16 (25 percent) from 3-point range.
