Florida State Seminoles vs Florida Gators Basketball Recap

The Florida State Seminoles hosted the Florida Gators in Tallahassee Sunday night in the annual men's basketball game between the rivals. The game came down to a Gator putback with 16 seconds left that gave Florida the edge needed to defeat the Noles, 55-51. 

Rivalry week in college football often spills over into college basketball and that was the case for this past Sunday's game between the Seminoles and the Gators. The two schools began their rivalry matches this season with men's and women's swim meets last Tuesday, then squared off at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday in their traditional football meeting, and topped it off with the men's basketball teams matching up at the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee Sunday night.

Unlike in football, the No. 14 Gators came into Sunday's game higher ranked than the Noles, who were unranked. The Seminoles had won three of the past four meetings between the two teams, but Florida held the most recent win with a 68-52 victory in 2009.

While Florida State had been led by forward Chris Singleton's 17.4 points-per-game and 10.8 rebounds-per-game averages, Singleton scored just 8 points in this loss to Florida on 2-of-12 shooting from the field (0-of-3 from three point range). The leading scorer for the Noles Sunday was guard Michael Snaer, who scored 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting (5-of-6 from three point range) off the bench. Snaer's five 3-pointers was a career best. 

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The Seminole bench has consistently been a strong point this season and Snaer kept the trend going Sunday. FSU coach Leonard Hamilton credited Snaer with keeping the Noles in the game: "He brought us back basically by himself," Hamilton said. The FSU coach also noted the defensive scheme of the Gators in defeating the Noles, pointing out that "They played us all zone and they don't do that very often. They were a lot more aggressive attacking the basket. We didn't attack."

The Seminoles had averaged 22 points in their first five victories before losing to Florida, led mainly by their excellent shooting (.493, ranked 29th nationally); yet it was poor shooting that handed the Noles their first loss. FSU shot just 19-of-55 (.345) against Florida and 7-of-17 (.412) beyond the arc. 

Coach Hamilton knows he has talent on his team, but the finishing touches have yet to be made in perfecting a contending team, "We missed out on a very good opportunity tonight and it's back to the drawing board." Coach Hamilton will need to rally his team quickly as it faces the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Tuesday.

By: Lauren Goddard
ACC-Fans Staff Writer