Florida State raced out to a 14-0 lead and never trailed on their way to a 73-68 win over Louisville Saturday afternoon in Tallahassee.
Despite the early hole, U of L managed to fight back and trim the Seminole lead to one on four separate occasions in the second half. FSU had an answer every time, and some questionable shots and a missed one-and-one by Mangok Mathiang in the game's final minute ultimately sealed the visitor's fate.
Look, it sucks to lose a game where you have the ball down 1 in the game's final minute, but there's no reason to let this ruin your weekend. Florida State is really good, they outscored Louisville by nine from the free-throw line, and the Cards didn't have Quentin Snider to captain the ship during the game's most crucial possessions.
If there was a majorly disappointing takeaway from Saturday's game (aside from just the loss in general), it's that Donovan Mitchell played perhaps his worst game of the season in a situation where his team needed him the most. Mitchell misfired on eight of his 10 field goal attempts, scored just six points and grabbed just three rebounds, and failed to record an assist. Solid bench play from David Levitch and (despite some highly questionable shot selection) Tony Hicks managed to alleviate Mitchell's off game and keep Louisville within striking distance.
Now Louisville enters a stretch where it's likely to be favored in its next three games, even though two of them are on the road. Win those three, get Q back, and then gear up for the February run.
