NCAA Tournament: Florida State beats Missouri, earns another shot at Xavier
Michael Porter Jr. of Missouri reacts against Florida State during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on Friday in Nashville, Tenn. Credit: Getty Images/Frederick Breedon
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It’s time to repay the favor, but not without a cost.
It was only last year that Florida State was upset by Xavier, losing by 25 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, leading to 12 long months of “what if’’ and “what happened?’’
This year, No. 1 Xavier sits atop the hierarchy in the West Regional, but with a 67-54 win over eighth-seeded Missouri at Bridgestone Arena on Friday, the ninth-seeded Seminoles earned another date with the Musketeers and a prime opportunity for payback.
The victory, though, didn’t come without a price, as Florida State lost its leading scorer midway through the second half.
The Seminoles (21-11) led by as many as 22, but Mizzou drew to within 50-44 with 9:53 left on the power of a 22-8 run. In the process, Florida State lost Terance Mann, who went down with a non-contact injury and had to be helped off the court.
Florida State regrouped, though, scoring 10 straight on the back of three-pointers by Phil Cofer and Braian Angola. Mfiondu Kabengele led a well-balanced Florida attack with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Florida State’s 11-0 run three minutes into the first half established the pace for the Seminoles, who led 42-20 at the break. Missouri scored four points in the final eight minutes of the first half — a 17-4 run in which the Tigers (20-13) didn’t register a single field goal. Florida State also kept the sharp-shooting Tigers to 3-for-14 shooting from three-point range in the first half.
Much of that dominance waned in the second half, when Mizzou rattled off seven straight points in the first 1:18 and went on a 10-1 run before Kabengele stemmed the tide, hitting a three with 16:28 to go to keep the lead at a comfortable 46-30.
“I thought the story for the first half was our guys were connected defensively, and I thought their effort was as a result of respect we have for Missouri and some of the tapes we’ve seen,” coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Second half, I thought they did a tremendous job coming out, denying spots on the floor. We didn’t handle it very well. Created some indecision on our part. I was proud of our guys. I thought they maintained their composure and settled down.”
After Missouri made its run at the beginning of the second half, “we came back to the huddle and kept encouraging guys,” Cofer said. “Every team is great in the tournament. They’re going to make runs no matter what. The best thing we have to do is keep our composure and just keep doing us.”
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
