February 14, 2008

Derek Redd, Osceola
Warchant.com

One of Florida State's greatest men's basketball players returned to the Donald L. Tucker Center on Thursday, as Sam Cassell had his jersey retired at halftime of FSU's game against Wake Forest.

The current Seminoles team, though, couldn't keep the good times going.

FSU let the Demon Deacons shoot 56 percent from the floor in a 78-70 Seminoles loss, the seventh Florida State loss in the last nine games. FSU (14-11, 3-7 in the ACC) trailed by as many as 21 in the first half, but cut that lead to three with 9:34 left in the game on Toney Douglas' 3-pointer.

That Douglas shot capped a 9-0 Seminoles run, but the Deacons (15-8, 5-5 in the ACC) ran off a 9-0 run of their own to end that rally.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said that, from what he saw in the practices leading up to Thursday's game, he wasn't expecting his team to fall behind by 21 at any point.

"To say we're disappointed would obviously be an understatement," he said. "I could not have been more disappointed in the fact that we shot the ball so well this morning and this afternoon in warm-ups. Defensively we knew what the challenge would be. Tonight it looked like we were stepping in mud, a half a step slow."

It was Wake's first road win in eight games and its first conference road win of the season.

In their first game against the Deacons, the Seminoles fell behind big in the second half. On Thursday night, it didn't take that long. Wake hit eight of its first nine shots and shot 59 percent from the field in the first half, including an 8-for-9 first half performance from 3-point range.

The Seminoles, on the other hand, shot just 30 percent from the first half and missed all 10 of its first half 3-pointers.

The Seminoles were without top 3-point threat Isaiah Swann for the first time in four seasons. Swann, who tore his ACL against Miami, was in uniform on the bench Thursday, but stayed on the bench.

Senior Jason Rich said his absence was felt.

"It was definitely noticeable," he said. "I think at times for us, he helps create the energy we need and I thought it was pretty clear that was lacking in the first half."

Florida State faced another setback when sophomore post player Ryan Reid was ejected with 47 seconds left in the first half for a flagrant foul against Chas McFarland.

Jeff Teague led Wake with 18 points, while Douglas led all scorers with 28.

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