Game Recap

Boston College (11-3, 0-2) came into Tallahassee with a gaudy record. The Eagles went 11-1 in the non-conference portion of their schedule including an impressive 58-56 victory over likely NCAA team Purdue in West Lafayette, IN in the ACC/B1G Challenge. Florida State (11-4, 1-1) was returning home following a disappointing ACC opener in Louisville. The Noles were able to get back on track with a rather easy 75-42 victory over the Eagles.

The Seminoles got off to a dream start. The Noles started the game on an 11-0 run sparked by two opening three pointers by point guard Leticia Romero (14pts, 7reb). She also assisted on a three from Emiah Bingley which led to an early BC timeout. Romero in particular looked like she wanted to be more aggressive on the offensive end. This resulted in positive offensive possessions on consecutive trips for FSU early in the game. BC leading scorer Kelly Hughes responded with five straight points after the timeout but FSU then went on a 10-2 run and eventually ended the first quarter with a 26-10 lead. The Eagles would get no closer than that 16 point margin for the rest of the game.

BC usually gets it done with precision offense and by holding teams down on the perimeter. The Eagles only allowed teams to shoot 24.7% from 3 point range coming into tonight's game. Unfortunately for BC, that formula didn't work in Tallahassee. FSU normally shoots 38.5% from three but tonight they went 9-19 (47.4%).

FSU's biggest problem in their losses has been too many turnovers; the Noles had 24 against Louisville. However, against BC the Seminoles only had 12 turnovers. The Noles proved again that they are capable of high level offense if they are not turning the ball over. However, FSU will have to continue to work on valuing the ball better. BC simply doesn't have the athletes on the perimeter to effectively pressure FSU's guards into turnovers. FSU will definitely face teams in the ACC who do have the necessary athleticism so we will need to see more before we can safely say that Florida State has cured its turnover bug.

The Seminoles played man to man defense virtually the whole night and they were effective. The Noles held BC to 30.6% (11-36) on two point field goals. ACC steals leader Brittany Brown widened her lead in that category with eight more steals in this game. Several of them were of the live ball variety that led to easy transition opportunities for her and her teammates.

Overall this was a comprehensive beatdown over a (likely) middle of the road ACC team at home. It was the kind of game that was routine last year and the kind of game that needs to become routine for FSU this year if they are to reach their ultimate goals. Florida State is very difficult to beat at home for anyone (26 straight wins) and that is especially true for a team like BC which lacks the athletes to effectively pressure the Seminoles into the mistakes that cause losses.

Next Game

Florida State welcomes Georgia Tech to the TLCCC on Sunday, January 10 at 4pm on Fox Sports Sun.

Overtime

The list of nominees for the McDonald's All-American Game has been released. Four members of Florida State's #4 ranked 2016 recruiting class have made the cut. Jasmine Walker, A'Tyanna Gaulden, Nausia Woolfolk, and Nicole Ekhomu all made the list of nominees. The 2016 McDonald's All-American game will be held in Chicago on March 30.