Florida State led UVA by one with 10:33 to go when the two teams met in Charlottesville last month. Then the Seminoles went ice cold, scoring just four points in the final 10:33 in what turned into a 51-41 loss.
After holding on for dear life to defeat Clemson, 76-73, in the second round of the 2015 ACC Tournament on Wednesday, FSU’s attention turns to top seed Virginia.
Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who had a game-high 30 points in the win over Clemson, was held to 13 on 5-of-15 shooting in the loss at UVA. He told reporters after the Clemson game that having played Virginia and its Pack-Line defense will help with preparations for Thursday.
“They make you move the ball, and you have to shoot really good shots. We’ve worked on that a lot in practice, and moved the basketball and taken high-percentage shots. It helped playing them the first time, and we know what to expect when we see them tomorrow,” Rathan-Mayes said.
It’s one thing to see the UVA Pack-Line on tape, another thing to see it in person, and still another to be effective against it.
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said the Cavs force opponents to make good decisions with the ball, and if you fall short of doing that consistently, “they can stymie you.”
“We have a tremendous amount of respect for them,” Hamilton said. “In order to be successful against Virginia, we’re going to have to have a lot of different guys contributing. We’ve got to move the ball and make good decisions. And then we’ve got to defend them as well.”
For 31 minutes Wednesday, FSU played elite-level defense against Clemson, holding the Tigers to 37 points as the ‘Noles built a 20-point lead.
Clemson nearly doubled its output from the first 31 minutes in the final nine, and turned that 20-point game with 9:09 to go, which was still a 12-point game with 1:19 to go, into a nail-biter that came down to the final seconds.
Virginia played Florida State last month without injured second-team All-ACC guard Justin Anderson, and lost starting point guard London Perrantes early in the second half when Perrantes and teammate Malcolm Brogdon collided, sending Perrantes to the locker room with a broken nose and mild concussion.
UVA pulled away late with two of its starters down, then, and there’s still an outside shot as of this writing that Anderson could be available for Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup.
Even if he’s not, Hamilton knows that Virginia will bring its A game.
“They’re an excellent basketball team with him, and they’re a very, very good basketball team, maybe just a little dash down, without him,” Hamilton said.
– Story by Chris Graham
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