FSU gets routed in Sweet 16 against Michigan

Seminoles shoot only 40% from the field in 76-58 loss to Wolverines. PAGE 2

Florida State couldn’t overcome a poor shooting performance, multiple miscues and struggles in the paint as the Seminoles saw their run in the NCAA Tournament come to an abrupt end with a 76-58 loss to Michigan in their Sweet 16 matchup Sunday in Indianapolis.

Fourth-seeded FSU (18-7) failed to advance past the regional semifinals for the second time in the past three appearances. Top-seeded Michigan (23-4) moves on to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2018. That season, the Wolverines were the runner-up to Villanova for the national championship.

“I think our Achilles was we were 0-for-7 from the 3 [-point line] and that we turned the ball over 10 times in the first half, and they scored the 16 points off our turnovers,” Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said. “We couldn’t get to the free-throw line, and they got to the free-throw line because we were overly aggressive.”

Both teams came out struggling to shoot the ball. Florida State missed six of its first eight shots while Michigan missed four of its first five attempts.

The Seminoles held a brief lead for the first 2:33 of the game before the Wolverines went on a 15-4 run to take a 19-8 lead. Hamilton’s team went four minutes without a basket before a dunk by center Balsa Koprivica ended the drought.

Michigan center Hunter Dickinson then came up big, scoring three straight baskets on back-to-backto-back possessions to push the Wolverines’ advantage to 27-16 with 4:45 left in the first half. The 7-1 freshman also had five rebounds and a blocked shot through the first 20 minutes. Dickinson finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

“We’ve been struggling shooting in March Madness. We haven’t been shooting as we had during the regular season,” senior guard M.J. Walker said. “Michigan did a good job with their game plan and executed defensively and offensively. The ball just wasn’t going our way today.”

Hamilton added: “It’s one of those nights where we just couldn’t seem to finish our attempts at the basket, but you’ve got to give them credit for being big and strong and contesting shots in there.”

The Wolverines took a 32-21 lead going into halftime. It was the largest deficit at the half for FSU since the Seminoles were down 16 points to Notre Dame on March 6.

After shooting 33% from the floor in the first half, FSU picked things up by shooting better in the second, but turnovers and fouls continued to hamper the team’s effort to get back in the game.

“I thought we fouled them a little too much, and we didn’t get the same type of aggressiveness on our offensive end,” said Hamilton, whose team was called for 22 fouls in the game.

Guard Scottie Barnes missed significant minutes after picking up his third and fourth fouls just a minute apart in the second half. He finished with just eight points and three assists.

To make matters worse, Walker went down after rolling his ankle at the 14-minute mark in the second half. He returned a few minutes later before finishing with 10 points and two assists.

Malik Osborne finished with a team-high 12 points and six rebounds while Andrew Polite had nine points, all in the second half, along with four rebounds and three steals.

Michigan pushed its lead to a game-high 23 points with 1:10 left before cruising to an 18-point victory.

“I think everyone knows, I think, they’re the tallest team in the country, so we know they press a lot,” said sophomore Michigan guard Franz Wagner, who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. “So that’s one thing we kind of went over in practice a lot.”

Added Michigan coach Juwan Howard about FSU’s size: “You cannot duplicate it in practice because you just don’t have that Florida State roster. But it was great to know, as far as our guys buying in, and I’m speaking of our scout team watching film and studying Florida State’s offense and the players’ strengths.”

FSU struggled with sloppy play throughout, turning the ball over 14 times that Michigan converted into 24 easy points.

Michigan was once again without senior forward Isaiah Livers, who has been out of the lineup since suffering a stress fracture in his right foot that he reaggravated during the Big Ten Tournament. Livers was averaging 13 points and six rebounds per game this season.

“I’ve been very proud of this team that they’ve hung together, and they’ve played within themselves,” Hamilton said. “I look back at this season, I think that team has a lot to be proud of. We’ll take this, and we’ll move forward.”