UMass had outrun, outhustled and outworked their first four opponents, unfortunately they hadn’t come up against a team like the Seminoles. The Minutemen held just one lead throughout the night and couldn’t hit their shots against Florida State in a 73-53 opening round loss in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament.
After falling behind 7-0 to start the game, UMass came all the way back to take the lead and trailed just 27-25 with 2:53 left in the first half. That’s when the Seminoles began their onslaught; a 9-0 run to end the half gave Florida State its largest lead of the half and they opened the lead up to as many as 26 in the second half.
Raphaiel Putney led all UMass scorers with 11 points but hit just 4-12 shots included 1-5 from behind the arc. Chaz Williams finished with eight points and six assists but also turned the ball over five times. Williams’ diminutive size was often too much to overcome against Florida State as he became lost in the shuffle or had his shots blocked.
Michael Snaer led the Seminoles with 19 points and 11 rebounds, one of two players with double-doubles for Florida State. The Seminoles used their superior size down low to get to the free throw line 39 times.
The Minutemen shot a season-low 27 percent from the field and hit 2-23 from behind the arc (8.7 percent). Despite pulling down 43 rebounds, UMass still weas outrebounded by 10 in a game that was marked by a ton of missed shots down low. Both teams turned the ball over 23 times with UMass’ full-court press causing a ton of problems for the Seminoles backcourt that lacks a true point guard.
UMass will take on the loser of tonight’s Harvard-UMass game at 7 p.m. Friday. The Seminoles will play at 4:30 against the winner of tonight’s nightcap.