Gray leads Florida State past Louisville
LOUISVILLE — RaiQuan Gray had 17 points and eight rebounds, Wyatt Wilkes scored 13 points and Florida State beat Louisville 78-65 Monday night.
Wilkes made two of Florida State’s four 3-pointers during a 17-3 run for a 22-7 lead and the Seminoles led by double figures for the rest of the first half. Louisville got within 57-49 with 11:34 remaining in the second half, but Balsa Koprivica answered with a dunk to start an 8-0 run.
Malik Osborne added 12 points, Rayquan Evans scored 11 and Scottie Barnes 10 for Florida State (8-2, 4-1 ACC), which shot 50% from the field including 9 of 21 from 3-point range. M.J. Walker had 10 assists and five rebounds, but was just 1-of-7 shooting for two points. Anthony Polite, averaging 9.6 points, did not play.
“I thought our guys were extremely focused at the beginning of the game. We got out of the box early,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Defensively, I thought we had the stops and got a lot of deflections. We were on-point with our execution. We made a lot of shots. That just shows that we are kind of growing up.”
Florida State won its fourth consecutive game against Louisville — the Seminoles longest winning streak against the Cardinals since the series began in the 1968-69 season.
Gray stepped into a leadership role this season following the departure of key players who were expected to help power another deep NCAA Tournament run before last season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.
“He’s experienced. Whether we are successful or not has a lot to do with how well he plays,” Hamilton said of Gray. “I think he’s maturing into that and understanding his strengths and his weaknesses. He’s going to the basket more. He’s being patient with his shot selection. He gives leadership on the floor. He gives us a unique ball-handling and decision-making for his size, which is challenging. We want him to drive the ball to the basket. He’s a really good jump shooter, but he’s not shooting the ball as well from the perimeter right now, but I think you will see as he grows with confidence, you will see him become more and more consistent throughout his offensive game. And he’s playing very good defense.”
Carlik Jones scored 17 points and David Johnson had 15 points and eight rebounds for Louisville (9-3, 4-2). Jae’Lyn Withers added 14 points and nine rebounds.
Florida State is scheduled to host No. 20 Clemson on Saturday. Tipoff is at 3 p.m. Saturday and the game will air nationally on ABC.
Polite missed his second consecutive game with a bruised shoulder, but Hamilton said he’s hopeful the guard will be back in the lineup against the Tigers.
With Polite out, Wilkes, a Winter Park native, stepped into the starting lineup for the Seminoles and contributed to the win over the Cardinals.
“Wyatt is probably one of the most knowledgeable players on our team,” Hamilton said. “He has a very high basketball IQ. He understands everything that we’re doing. We weren’t hesitant at all to move him into that position. He makes great decisions with the ball, and he’s shooting the ball very well right now.
“He stepped in and gave us great floor balance. I thought that he gave us a couple of baskets there early that fill in for Anthony. Anthony’s shooting over 50% from 3, so I thought that with Wyatt coming in we didn’t miss very much, and that was very good.”