Florida State men's basketball: Syracuse uses big second half to down Seminoles | Our takeaways
Despite a fast start, Florida State men’s basketball faded in the second half against Syracuse on Wednesday.
The Orange defeated the Seminoles 76-67 at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center before a crowd of 5,656, denying FSU a chance to return to .500 in ACC play.
Matthew Cleveland led Florida State (8-17, 6-8 ACC) with 19 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Naheem McLeod added a career-high 16 points and eight rebounds, while Darin Green hit five 3-pointers en route to a 17-point performance.
Cleveland has scored in double-figures in a career-best 18 straight games and 11 double-doubles on the season.
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Chandler Jackson added seven points and nine assists.
Joseph Girad III led the Orange (15-10, 8-6) with 26 points, scoring 13 in each half. Jesse Edwards added 18 points and 12 rebounds and Judah Mintz finished with 16 points and six assists.
Syracuse now leads the all-time series 10-6 between the two programs after outscoring FSU 47-32 in the second half.
The Orange used a 16-2 run in the second half to take control of the game. The Seminoles held a 35-29 halftime lead.
"There were so many simple mistakes we made, turning the ball over here, turning the ball over there, not cutting hard enough," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "Enough that you gave a team with a couple of outstanding guys on their team (opportunities)."
The Seminoles used a 16-2 run of their own in the first half to push their lead to a game-high eight-point lead.
Caleb Mills ended a scoreless drought of 4:14 for FSU with a pair of free throws with 5:12 left, which helped the Orange push its lead to nine points.
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No production outside of the top four guys
Cleveland, McLeod, Green and Jackson combined for 59 of the team’s 67 points. The quartet combined to shoot 24 for 52 (46%) from the field.
Green, who shot 5 for 17 from 3-point range was the only FSU player to make more than one 3-pointer. The 17 shots were a season-high for Green, with his previous high being 11.
The rest of the six players who got in combined for two baskets on 15 attempts. Those six players barely had more points (8) than more turnovers (6) combined.
Mills shot just 1-for-10 from the field and finished with five points.
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Struggles against the zone
Part of the reason for FSU's offensive struggles was attached to the zone defense Syracuse presented. Hamilton said the team had not faced many zone defenses this season and his team was inexperienced against it.
The Seminoles attempted 35 3-pointers as a result but shot just 25.7% from beyond the arc, including 23.5% in the second half.
"Our lack of execution against the zone," Hamilton said of what plagued the team on offense. "We were not in synch and plus we've had those nights, all teams have those nights, where you can't knock down your perimeter shots."
FSU was able to move the ball better in the first half, including Cleveland finding McLeod for two alley-hoop dunks during the Seminoles' big run.
But in the second half, the opportunities in the paint did not come as easy and with the Seminoles not able to knock down 3-pointers, the offense struggled to get going.
"Our lack of execution in the second half did us in," Hamilton said. "It's interesting we were pretty efficient in the first half, even though we did not have one of our better shooting nights. We allowed them to speed us up a little bit.
...The same opportunities that were available to us in the first half, were available in the second half, but we didn't find them."
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Struggles on offense lead to struggles on defense
Syracuse was limited to 29 points on 36.7% shooting in the first half and trailed by six at the break.
However, in the second half, the Orange were able to find a rhythm and shot 53.1% (17 of 32) from the field. They also shot 10 for 13 from the free throw line, compared to 4 of 4 in the first half.
Syracuse scored 26 of its 40 points in the paint in the second half.
"I thought that our lack of offense production took a little starch out of our guys on the defensive end," Hamilton said. "That's when you show your immaturity.
...I am a little disappointed in our defensive effort there individually. I didn't think we put enough defensive effort to contain some of their better players. I think a lot of it seemed to stem from individually we had guys who difficult time making baskets."
Up next:
The Seminoles remain home to play host to Pittsburgh at noon Saturday at the Civic Center.
FSU then travels to ACC-leading Clemson (7 p.m.) on Thursday and hosts Boston College next Saturday at noon.
This story will be updated with quotes and takeaways.
Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU men's basketball: Syracuse uses big second half to down Seminoles
