Not even Ja Morant could save Murray State against deep, talented Florida State
In the aftermath of Murray State’s victory over Marquette on Thursday afternoon, one question loomed large.
Could Ja Morant spearhead a deep NCAA tournament run like the one Steph Curry engineered at Davidson a decade ago? Or would the talent gap eventually waylay the Racers like it has so many previous double-digit-seeded first-round winners?
The answer came swiftly Saturday night during fourth-seeded Florida State’s 90-62 throttling of Murray State. Not even Morant’s magic was enough to keep the 12th-seeded Racers in striking distance for long against the deep, talented Seminoles.
Morant scored 28 points on 8-for-21 shooting, but he was a one-man engine for most of the game. None of his teammates were consistently capable of creating offense on their own against Florida State’s formidable defense, so Morant had to bear that burden largely on his own.
It also didn’t help that Murray State offered little defensive resistance for a Florida State team that is two deep at every position. Mfiondu Kabengele scored 22 points off the bench and Terance Mann added 18 as the Seminoles shot 52 percent from the field and 11 of 27 from behind the arc.
A dominant showing from Florida State exemplified why the Seminoles should be viewed as a legitimate Final Four threat entering their West regional semifinal against Gonzaga. This is the college basketball’s deepest team, one that comes at opponents in waves at both ends of the floor.
A year ago, Florida State blitzed Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 before laying an egg against Michigan in the Elite Eight. Seven of the Seminoles’ top nine players from that team are back this season, and both Gonzaga and Michigan could await them once more in Southern California.
Not being more competitive with Florida State is a disappointing end to Murray State’s otherwise sweet season. Morant solidified himself as a top-three pick in next June’s NBA draft while leading the Racers to a share of the OVC title and the program’s first NCAA tournament victory in seven years.
The final score of Saturday’s game was so one-sided that it’s easy to forget Murray State actually led in the opening minutes. A trio of 3-pointers from Morant had the Racers out in front 14-7 and the crowd in Hartford roaring.
But before anyone in Murray State blue and gold could have visions of a Sweet 16 run, reality set in.
Florida State stopped going under ball screens and started forcing Morant to either finish over the Seminoles’ length at the rim or hit contested mid-range pull-up jumpers. The Seminoles also began scoring at will, often on wide-open threes or layups with little resistance.
Florida State’s lead was 16 at halftime and ballooned to as many as 30 during the second half. By the time there were only 90 seconds left in the game, Morant exited to loud applause and then buried his face in a towel on the bench.
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