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RECAP: FSU Basketball Snaps Losing Streak With Gritty Win Against Boston College

Originally posted on FanNation NoleGameDay
By Austin Veazey | Last updated 2/6/24

This was a completely different game from what we saw Saturday night against Louisville.

It was a blistering start for Florida State, clearly wanting to show they'd put Saturday behind them. Just a little over five minutes into the game, they were up 16-2. Boston College refused to go away, using the floor spacing ability of Quinten Post to start hitting some shots. A few minutes later, the lead was down to just 5. The rest of the half would oscillate between a lead of 5 and 10 points for FSU, as the 'Noles took a 37-31 lead into the break.

Given how the game started, you'd definitely prefer them to be up more, but Boston College has some talented scorers between Post and Claudell Harris (you could argue Harris not starting the game was a big reason why FSU jumped out to a big early lead). It was a pretty clean first half with a combined 10 fouls and 4 free throws between the two teams and FSU was able to get clean offense, for the most part.

A scoring drought-plagued FSU's offense early in the second half. With the officials essentially not calling any fouls, they weren't getting the usual trips to the line that they're used to. Boston College was able to get the lead down to 2 in the first ten minutes of the second half and then tied it up with about 8 minutes remaining. BC had a chance to take a lead, as a bad pass by Primo Spears led to a breakaway for the Eagles, but he got back in the play, contested at the rim to not give up a basket, and Darin Green Jr hit a 3 on the other end to give FSU the lead again.

The ending was anything but easy. Boston College got the lead back down to 1 and had to foul with 10.7 seconds remaining. Darin Green missed the front end of the 1-and-1, giving BC a chance to win the game with 10 seconds remaining. Jamir Watkins used FSU's last foul to give with 5.8 remaining, then the Corhen was able to poke the ball loose after the inbounds pass and Boston College wasn't even able to get a shot off, as the 'Noles would hang on 63-62 for their first win at BC since 2016.

It was a strange night offensively for Florida State. After scoring 92 on Saturday with five different players scoring in double figures, they had just one person score 10 or more points tonight, which was Watkins with 10. He clearly had an issue with how the game was being officiated, as to see him only have one total free throw attempt is a little insane given his style of play. He had multiple shot attempts where 9 times out of 10 he's getting free throws, but the officials just weren't calling it. I'd have rather have games with low fouls (combined 23 fouls and 10 free throws) compared to what we had Saturday, but it felt a little suspicious some of them weren't fouls.

Taylor Bol Bowen had a masterpiece of a game: 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists, but even that doesn't show how good of a game he had off the bench. He had the highest game score (a productivity metric that is rated 1-40, the higher the better) on the team at 13.5 and his activity was simply everywhere. I can't wait to see the player he becomes.

No one else really stood out, it was just a total team effort: Cam Corhen and Darin Green Jr each had 8 points, Josh Nickelberry had 7, Jaylan Gainey and Jalen Warley had 6 (Warley's 6 were all tough shots), and Baba Miller had 5.

The biggest factor was FSU outscored BC in the paint 38-28, while also outscoring them off of turnovers 19-5. That was enough to overcome BC having a small advantage at the free throw line and from 3.

Quinten Post was dominant with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks, including hitting 3 of his 5 threes. He's a special talent. Mason Madsen quietly had 12 points, Jaeden Zackary had 11, and Devin McGlockton had 10. Holding Claudell Harris to just 8 points on 3/11 shooting was massive for FSU, as he was coming off of a 19-point outing against Syracuse.

Florida State improved to 13-9 and 7-4 in the ACC, which has become a very muddy conference. Currently, 9 teams sit between 7-3 and 5-6, which will balance out some with the Wednesday games.

Next up is a matchup with red-hot Virginia in the Tuck on Saturday, who has won 7 straight games. This game was a good pre-cursor, as Boston College runs the same defense as Virginia, just not as well. For those not aware, Virginia just beat Miami 60-38.