Busting Brackets
Fansided

Florida State Basketball: 3 takeaways from Seminoles blowout loss at Purdue

By Ian Mumm

The Florida State bench reacts to a basket during the first half of an NCAA men's basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021 at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.Bkc Purdue Vs Florida State
The Florida State bench reacts to a basket during the first half of an NCAA men's basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021 at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.Bkc Purdue Vs Florida State /
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Florida State Basketball guard Anthony Polite Purdue Boilermakers guard Isaiah Thompson Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
Florida State Basketball guard Anthony Polite Purdue Boilermakers guard Isaiah Thompson Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /

The trip to West Lafayette was always going to be a stiff early-season test for head coach Leonard Hamilton and Florida State Basketball. However, the weekend announcement of key players RayQuan Evans, Tanor Ngom, and Naheem McLeod being ruled out for the game only steepened the road ahead. The 93-65 route only confirmed that Florida State needed all pieces available to have a quality chance to pull off the upset.

Florida State still managed to shoot 41.3% from the floor, but the end result was more about what they were unable to stop rather than any scoring deficiencies experienced. The Boilermakers were able to prove their 1st overall offensive rating was legitimate and how difficult a task of shutting down their monster frontcourt and deep backcourt will be for any team in the nation.

Purdue’s 93 points scored Tuesday was the most allowed by Florida State in regulation since conceding 100 to Duke on December 30th, 2017.

As the Noles move towards an early ACC clash with Syracuse later this week, I look at what can be gathered from this game in hopes of a bounce-back.

Struggling for Freebies

Tuesday’s outing against #2 Purdue witnessed some questionable strategy throughout the game. The team’s six free throw attempts were amongst the top of the list, despite collectively making five of them. The aggression and continued effort to attack the Boilermakers’ defense was not there even for the opportunity to create foul problems for Purdue.

However, this is becoming a consistent issue for the Seminoles. The team has failed to surpass 12 free throw attempts in three of their last four games now and seems content to shoot their way in or out of games. In their 1-point overtime win against Boston University, the team’s 20 attempts proved how valuable these opportunities are for this team.

Coupled with the team’s inability to find efficient offensive possessions at the moment, Florida State has to find easier ways to get comfortable across the board.

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