TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Louisville got off to a slow start on the road against Florida State for the second straight year. This time though it was able to overcome it.
The Cardinals trailed by nine points 2 minutes into Wednesday night’s game against the 23rd-ranked Seminoles and were down by 13 at halftime before rallying for a 73-69 victory, which snapped FSU’s 28-game home winning streak.
“That’s as good a road win as we’ve had in the past couple years,” Louisville coach David Padgett said. “We didn’t get rattled and did a good job of being resilient and battling back.”
The Cardinals trailed 14-0 in last year’s game and were never able to climb back before losing 73-68. At one point late in the first half of Wednesday’s game they trailed by 17.
Deng Adel scored 16 points and Ray Spalding added 15 for the Cardinals (12-4, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who got their first road win against a ranked team since March 5, 2014, against SMU to snap an 11-game skid.
Louisville was 13 of 28 from the field in the second half, including 6 of 13 on 3-pointers. Ryan McMahon, who scored 11 points, had three 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes. He gave the Cardinals their first lead (64-62) with a 3 with 4:55 remaining and had another that pushed it to 71-66 with 59 seconds left.
“We got off to a slow start but we were able to trust the offense and stick to the game plan,” McMahon said.
Louisville trailed 45-32 at halftime but steadily stormed back as the Seminoles missed five of their first six from the field in the second half and committed six turnovers in the first 6 minutes. A 3-pointer by Adel with 9:04 remaining tied it at 55 before the Cardinals took the lead on McMahon’s 3-pointer.
After Louisville had a five-point lead in the final minute, Braian Angola made a 3 to pull FSU within 71-69. The Seminoles had a final chance to tie after a Cardinals’ turnover, but Terance Mann missed a layup with a second remaining. McMahon then made both free throws to put the game away.
“They made some very, very timely 3s in the second half. And we made some untimely turnovers that gave them extra possessions that they took advantage of. That’s what talented teams will do,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Obviously we went cold from the perimeter and they did a very good job of contesting our ability to drive to the basket and finish.”
Mann tied a career high with 25 points and Angola added 18 for Florida State (12-4, 1-3), which had its first home loss since an 86-80 defeat to Georgia Tech on Feb. 17, 2016.
The Seminoles had nine of their 14 turnovers in the second half and were 8 of 26 from the field after going 18 of 39 in the first half.
“We weren’t playing to win,” Mann said. “We were hesitant. We didn’t know if this was a good shot or not.”
BIG PICTURE
Louisville: This is the largest deficit the Cardinals have rallied from to win on the road since they came back from 14 down to defeat Ohio State 72-64 on Jan. 4, 2003.
Florida State: The Seminoles are 13 of 48 from beyond the arc in their last two ACC games after going 26 of 61 in their first two.
TURNING POINT
Padgett said that Louisville switched to a matchup zone in the second half, which really affected Florida State’s perimeter shooting. The Seminoles were 6 of 14 from beyond the arc in the first half but 2 of 10 in the second.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Louisville came into the game second in the nation in blocked shots, averaging 7.7 per game. It had eight against Florida State with six coming in the second half. Center Anas Mahmoud, who is fourth in the nation (3.93), had four, including three in the final 1:26.
ROLE PLAYER
Florida State junior center Christ Koumadje had nine points and eight rebounds in his second game back from a foot injury. Koumadje had missed 11 games before returning in last Sunday’s loss at Miami.
UP NEXT
Louisville: Hosts Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Florida State: Hosts Syracuse on Saturday.
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