Florida State was thoroughly handled from start to finish on Saturday as it suffered its biggest home loss of the season, falling 81-59 to No. 17 Louisville.
The Cardinals (23-6, 11-5 ACC) scored the game’s first 10 points and it took Florida State nearly seven minutes to get on the scoreboard. The Seminoles didn’t record their first field goal until the 12:23 mark of the first half on a lay-in by Boris Bojanovsky. From there, FSU (15-15, 7-10 ACC) never drew any closer than five.
Louisville played suffocating defense for most of the day, holding Florida State to under 40 percent shooting while forcing 21 turnovers. The Seminoles were 1-for-10 from beyond the arc.
Florida State trailed 36-26 at the break and the game stayed around 10 for the early parts of the second half before an 18-2 run by the Cardinals put the game away. Wayne Blackshear, who led all scorers with 18 points, scored 10 during the extended Louisville run.
Montrezl Harrell had several dunks for the Cardinals and finished with 16 points on 8-for-10 shooting. Anton Gill was 5-for-5 off the Louisville bench, finishing with 14 points while Quentin Snider chipped in with 12. Leading scorer Terry Rozier added 10 points for the Cardinals, but recorded game-highs with 9 assists and 6 steals.
Montay Brandon was efficient offensively for the second straight game, scoring a team-high 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting, but was just 3-for-8 from the foul line. Guards Devon Bookert and Xavier Rathan-Mayes each finished with 12 points, but on just a combined 8-for-26 shooting. Bojanovsky had a strong game off the FSU bench, recording 11 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals.
Florida State will have a week off before concluding the regular season at home against Pittsburgh next Saturday. Louisville will conclude the regular season at home against a pair of top 10 teams beginning with Notre Dame on Wednesday night.
