FSU basketball: Seminoles are 4-1 after Top 25 win over Colorado — buy or sell Florida State?

Facing off against its first ranked opponent of the 2023-24 season, Florida State took on the No. 18 Colorado Buffaloes in the championship round of the Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach on Tuesday.

FSU, having taken down UNLV the night before, battled with the Buffaloes over the course of a tight 40-minute matchup. It was another huge night from Jamir Watkins, who had a dynamic night for the Seminoles with a double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds). He was joined by Jalen Warley (19 points) and De’Ante Green (10) as double-digit scorers, with Darin Green Jr. (12) also hitting a trio of timely threes.

Florida State trailed 30-27 at half but never trailed by more than four points, with its defensive attack effective in shutting down a lethal Colorado offense. In the second half, it was the Seminoles who managed to separate at first, leading by as much as 10 before the Buffaloes found a groove near the 13-minute mark of the game.

FSU separated things once again after Warley had a dynamic back-to-back bucket sequence, putting the Seminoles up 55-49 with 6:47 to go, but Colorado managed to storm back and grab a three-point lead with 2:51 in the game. Watkins hit a jumper to cut the lead to one and then a free throw by Warley tied things up with 1:11 left.

Neither team scored a bucket for the rest of regulation, with the Seminoles having a chance at a final shot but a messy sequence saw Watkins turning the ball over to send things to overtime in the World’s Most Famous Beach.

With 38 seconds to play Colorado managed to hit a jumper but a fast break dunk by Warley again pushed FSU’s lead up to seven with 32 seconds to play. Colorado would get a basket in the aftermath, but forced to foul with 20 seconds to go, allowed the Seminoles return trips to the charity stripe to push it to 75-69 with 14 seconds.

Warley, who missed two free throws but hit one, committed a shooting foul — Colorado hit both shots, with the score now sitting at 75-71. With nine seconds left, Green Jr. hit both of his free throw attempts to separate the Seminoles by six, a margin that would hold up after Colorado missed a desperation three in the closing seconds.

It was an impressive defensive performance from start to finish against a Colorado team that fields one of the top offenses in the country — the Buffaloes, entering into the game, averaged 85 points per game (No. 28 in the country) and were shooting 48.6% from 3 (No. 3). On Tuesday night, Colorado shot just 35% from the field and 25% (5-20) from beyond the arc.

With the win, the Seminoles have now won each of their overtime decisions since a 101-90 double overtime win over Syracuse on January 13, 2018 in a game played at the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee — 14 games in a row, an NCAA record.

Next up for Florida State (4-1) is a home matchup vs. the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday, November 29 as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge.

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