On Tuesday, Feb. 16, the Florida State University Men’s basketball team finally ended their three-and-a-half-week losing streak. During the home game, starter RayQuan Evans hit a career-high of 28 points and earned the “Defensive Spear” title. Clemson player PJ Hall also scored 28 points, earning his career-high as well. Before Jan. 26, the ‘Noles were on a high, winning six consecutive games, including an exciting win against Duke, the number nine team.
However, the Seminoles suffered a loss in players as Anthony Polite, Caleb Mills, Malik Osborne and Naheem McLeod were out due to injury. The loss in players results in increased pressure on starter RayQuan Evans. Moreover, head coach Leonard Hamilton will now have less players to select from to start.
Unfortunately, to Coach Hamilton’s disappointment, Malik Osborne’s ankle injury will put him out for the rest of the season. “I’m not very sure we are going to have very much of Malik,” says Hamilton. Malik Osborne previously shot 42 percent; however, before the announcement regarding absence due to injury, he only shot about 18 percent. Thankfully, Osborne had a successful surgery on the injury.
Caleb Mills, a starter in 22 out of the 23 games he’s played in, suffered an ankle injury in their game against the University of North Carolina. Without him, Florida State struggled, losing by 20 points. Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton also announced that Anthony Polite would miss an indefinite amount of games as he procured a right wrist injury. Additionally, Naheem Mcleod is recovering from surgery on his right hand.
Before the losing streak, the Florida State Seminoles were beginning a climb into the top 25 and even ranked first in the Atlantic Coast Conference. However, after losses to low-ranked opponents like Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and the University of Pittsburgh, their ranking quickly changed. Now, the Seminoles are ranked number nine out of fifteen total in the ACC.
On Feb. 15, the Seminoles narrowly grasped victory as the final score was 81-80 against Clemson. This score means RayQuan Evans made roughly 35 percent of the total. Clemson ended the game with 24 fouls, while Florida State had 22. Clemson achieved ten turnovers, whereas FSU only had eight.
Additionally, Clemson got 41 rebounds and FSU got 29. However, Florida State had the upper hand in field goals and three-point percentages. FSU achieved 43.6 percent of their attempted field goals and 42.1 percent of their three-point attempts. On the other hand, Clemson only scored 38.6 percent of their attempted field goals and 22.2 percent of their three-point attempts. Evans also fouled with 14 seconds remaining and scored the winning shot for Florida State.
Hopefully, the win against Clemson will result in a positive change for the Seminoles, and injuries will quit plaguing the team soon. On Saturday, Feb. 19, FSU played their second game against the No. 9 ranked Duke, who hoped they would come out on top after their previous one-point loss. Duke did beat Florida State 88-70. This was an away game on Saturday at six p.m. Clemson faced Louisville on Feb. 19, as well, losing by nine points.
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