Trent Forrest Helps No. 18 FSU Upset Jordan Nwora, No. 7 Louisville

The No. 18 Florida State Seminoles upset the No. 7 Louisville Cardinals 78-65 on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

FSU improved to 13-2 on the season with the win and also moved its ACC record to 3-1. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have now dropped two in a row and sit at 11-3 in 2019-20 with a 2-1 conference mark.

The Seminoles benefited from a trio of offensive stars Saturday in guards Trent Forrest, M.J. Walker and Devin Vassell. Also, forward Patrick Williams stood out defensively thanks to his shot-blocking acumen. Conversely, Louisville got little production outside of superstar forward Jordan Nwora.

There was a major discrepancy in efficiency Saturday as well, with Florida State shooting 55.2 percent from the field and Louisville shooting just 38.7 percent.

Notable Stats

M.J. Walker, G, FSU: 23 PTS, 3 AST

Trent Forrest, G, FSU: 20 PTS, 5 AST, 3 REB

Devin Vassell, G, FSU: 14 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST

Jordan Nwora, F, LOU: 32 PTS, 10 REB

Steven Enoch, C, LOU: 10 PTS, 4 REB

Lamarr Kimble, G, LOU: 6 PTS, 3 AST

FSU's Depth Helps Overcome Nwora's Dominance in Big Win

The Seminoles didn't have an answer for Nwora on Saturday, but with several players finding their offensive rhythm for FSU, it didn't matter.

Nwora was coming off one of his worst performances of the season, as he scored just eight points and shot 20 percent from the field in a loss to Kentucky. As pointed out by Mike Rutherford of CardChronicle.com, he quickly put it behind him:

The issue for Louisville was the fact that center Steven Enoch was the only other player to score in double figures Saturday.

Rutherford also noted that Louisville appeared to be a tired team, especially late in the first half when Florida State went on a 12-2 run:

With that, the Seminoles led 39-32 at halftime and were dominating the Cardinals in almost every facet, especially in terms of shooting efficiency:

It looked at halftime that Florida State was poised for a blowout win, but Nwora took matters into his own hands and started to turn the tide in Louisville's favor.

Near the midway mark of the second half, Nwora scored four consecutive points and shrunk the deficit to just three. At that point, Jay King of The Athletic loved what he was seeing out of Nwora:

That was as close as the Cardinals would get, though, as threes from Vassell and Walker stretched the lead back out to nine.

FSU went on to lead by as many as 15 in the second half, and the Cardinals simply didn't have the juice needed to fight back again, which resulted in the 13-point margin of defeat.

What's Next?

Florida State will return to action Wednesday when it faces the 8-5 Wake Forest Demon Deacons in an ACC road test.

The Cardinals will play next on Tuesday against a Miami Hurricanes team they beat 87-74 to open the season.