Florida State’s size too much for Hokies

Florida State’s length and size were too much for the Hokies on Saturday afternoon, as the ‘Noles beat Tech 73-65 in Cassell Coliseum.  Tech dropped to 9-14 and 1-9, while the Seminoles improved to 13-11 overall and 5-6 in ACC play.

Florida State played 10 players, and all of them played at least 12 minutes.  The ‘Noles had superior depth and size.  Here are some of the players they put on the court…

Michael Ojo: 7-1, 292
Boris Bojanovsky: 7-3, 240
Kiel Turpin: 7-0, 240
Jarquez Smith: 6-9, 225
Phil Cofer: 6-8, 205
Montay Brandon: 6-8, 225

Meanwhile, the Hokies used 6-7, 220 Christian Beyer and 6-3, 225 Malik Muller to defend the post for most of the game.  As another example of the size differential, FSU guard Montay Brandon is bigger than every Tech post player with the exception of Satchel Pierce.

“Just their size, their athleticism,” Buzz Williams said when asked what makes Florida State such a tough matchup.

In the first meeting, FSU beat Tech 86-75 and outrebounded the Hokies by 20.  This time they only outrebounded VT by nine, and they also had 20 turnovers.  However, their size and length were the difference, and from press row it was easy to see that their length really challenged Tech’s shooters.

Ahmed Hill scored 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and he was 4-of-7 from three-point range.  Adam Smith also added 19 points.

“I think he’s the hardest playing kid on our team, that’s why he plays more minutes than anybody else,” Williams said of Hill. “I don’t think he’s the most talented player, but I think he plays really hard. I think he has completely bought in to what we do, what we’re about.”

However, several Hokies were not able to make a field goal…

Justin Bibbs: 3 points, 0-of-6
Satchel Pierce: 0 points, 0-of-4
Devin Wilson: 2 points, 0-of-3

Those three players combined to go 0-of-13, and the Hokies shot just 21-of-52 (40.4%) from the field.  Tech outshot FSU 52-46 from the field, and also attempted two more free throws.  However, Florida State’s size hurt Tech’s ability to make shots, and the Seminoles had nine blocks to VT’s one.  Malik Muller paced VT with five rebounds.

The Hokies trailed by six points at halftime, cut the FSU lead to 33-31 early in the second half, but found themselves trailing by 17 points with just over five minutes remaining.  They rallied to cut the Seminole lead to six points on two occasions, but could get no closer.

The Hokies return to action on Monday night when they host Georgia Tech. Tipoff is scheduled for 9pm, and the game will be televised by ESPNU.

Box Score