Michigan routs FSU in Sweet 16
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,” said Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton. “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 with Florida State missing 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 came up big down the stretch, scoring three straight baskets on back-to-back-to-back possessions to push the Wolverines’ advantage to 27-16 with 4:45 left in the first half.
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,” said senior guard M.J. Walker. “
FSU struggled with sloppy play, turning the ball over 10 times that Michigan converted into 16 easy points.
The Wolverines took a 32-21 lead going into halftime.
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.
Michigan pushed its lead to a game-high 19 points with 5:16 left in the game.