Field Level Media
Feb 15, 2021
No. 16 Florida State jumped on No. 7 Virginia early, weathered a brief rally and then rolled to an 81-60 victory Monday night in Tallahassee, Fla., extending its school record to 24 straight Atlantic Coast Conference home wins.
M.J. Walker scored 17 points and RaiQuan Gray added 15 for the Seminoles (12-3, 8-2 ACC), who shot 54.2 percent (13 of 24) from 3-point range to win for the seventh time in eight games.
Florida State hasn't lost a league game at the Donald L. Tucker Center since Jan. 22, 2019. Duke set the ACC record with 26 consecutive home wins from 1997-2000.
The Cavaliers (15-4, 11-2) had their four-game winning streak snapped but remain in first place in the conference. Trey Murphy III scored 13 points, Kihei Clark and Tomas Woldetensae added 12 each and Sam Hauser had 11.
Virginia turned it over 13 times, leading to 21 points for Florida State.
The Seminoles led 45-25 at halftime against a Virginia team that entered the game ranked fourth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 58.8 points per contest.
Clark and the Cavaliers came out firing in the second half. He scored 10 points during a 16-3 spurt that cut the Florida State advantage to 48-41.
Momentum quickly swung back to the Seminoles with a 17-0 run. Balsa Koprivica's first career 3-pointer capped the surge and gave Florida State a commanding 68-43 lead with 8:27 remaining.
Virginia trailed by at least 16 the rest of the way.
With the victory, Florida State takes a 27-26 lead in the all-time series with UVA.
The Cavaliers enjoyed a brief 6-2 lead before things fell apart against a swarming Florida State defense.
A 28-5 run put the Seminoles in charge at 30-11. Their biggest lead of the half came at 45-22 on Wyatt Wilkes' 3-pointer with 1:41 remaining.
Virginia didn't make its first 2-point field goal until Casey Morsell's layup with 9:02 left in the half. The Cavaliers finished the first half with almost as many turnovers (eight) as made field goals (10).
--Field Level Media