Seminoles Fall To Butler in Semifinals of Diamondhead Classic

After defeating the host Hawaii Warriors, 70-62, in the opening round of the Diamondhead Classic, the Seminoles advanced to the semifinal matchup against the defending national runner-up Butler Bulldogs on Thursday night. In a matchup of perimeter shooting, in which the teams combined to shoot 55 three-point shots, the Bulldogs came away with the victory, 67-64.

Matt Howard led the way for the Bulldogs, with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Shelvin Mack also made a large contribution for the Bulldogs, as he added 17 points and was 4-8 from three point range. Chase Stigall also added 11 points of his own.

Chris Singleton was the main, and really only, offensive weapon for the now 10-3 Seminoles. Singleton registered 28 points and 9 rebounds and was 6-12 from the three point line.

Of his 28 points, Singleton scored 26 in the second half. Singleton remained the only offensive threat for the Seminoles, as he was the only player to have a double digit point total.

The next two top scorers were Xavier Gibson and Michael Snaer, who each had 7 points. Gibson was 3-6 from the field and was playing well before suffering a knee injury that took him out of the game towards the midpoint of the second half.

Snaer shot 2-9 for 7 points, Deividas Dulkys was 1-6 for 3 points and Derwin Kitchen, who scored 20 points in the Seminoles opening round win over Hawaii, shot 1-6 from the field and only registered 5 points. He did lead the team in rebounds and assists, with 10 and 4 respectively. As a team, Florda State shot 39.6% for the night.

The problem with FSU this season continues to be their inability to find an identity on the offensive side of the game. Like all Leonard Hamilton coached teams, the defense is solid and you can count on that to keep them in most games, but the offense is very ineffective and basically just relies on hoping that one player will be able to get hot and carry the rest of the team to a victory.

In a game where the Seminoles could have made a huge statement in the college basketball world, by taking advantage of an obvious matchup problem, they simply were content with trying to match Butler shot for shot and tried to assume the role of a perimeter shooting team.

Although the Noles only lost by three, they easily could’ve won the game by 10. Butler basically plays the game with one big man and four guards. Their main big man is Matt Howard, who is 6'8", and the other is 6'11" sophomore Andrew Smith, who isn't as polished as Howard and doesn't add much offensively or defensively.

On the entire Florida State roster, there are 6 players who are 6'8" or taller and all receive solid playing time are major contributors to this team. Instead of playing on the perimeter and trying to match three pointers with Butler all night, the Seminoles should have been taking advantage of this matchup and attacked the basket all night.

This was obvious towards the end of the game, when Howard had three fouls and Smith was limited to the bench with four fouls already. Florida State should have used this and attacked Howard at the basket, who was their leading scorer, and gotten him out of the game. Instead, Florida State only scored 12 of their 64 points in the paint.

This lack of offensive identity continues to be Florida State’s biggest issue, and it will continue to haunt them if they don’t come to and realize who they are. They are bigger and stronger than most teams in the country and could simply overpower teams down low. They should control the game, rather than continue to live in a false reality where they believe they’re a perimeter offense.

If Hamilton doesn’t take control of this offense and have them learn who they are, it could lead to bigger problems as they get deeper into their ACC schedule.