Florida State struggled to get rebounds all afternoon and North Carolina made the Seminoles pay, grabbing a 41-19 edge on the boards.
The Tar Heels scored 19 second-chance points and P.J. Hairston had a career-high 23 points as UNC held off FSU 77-72 on Saturday afternoon at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
“We need to do a better job team rebounding,” said FSU forward Terrance Shannon, who had 12 points and four rebounds. “I felt like times there was one guy rebounding for our team and three, four guys for their team. We just have to be more conscious of it.”
FSU (10-6, 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) was playing well enough on the offensive end to win the game, knocking down 11 of 22 shots from beyond the three-point arc. Terry Whisnant made four three-pointers, including three in the second half, as he scored 14 points.
The Seminoles led 72-69 with 4:16 left after a pair of free throws by Okaro White, who scored all 15 of his points in the second half. But they were the final points that FSU would score, as the Seminoles committed three turnovers and missed a layup down the stretch.
FSU used three-pointers to beat UNC (11-5, 1-2) twice last season, including a 33-point rout in Tallahassee.
But FSU couldn’t replicate that magic on Saturday. The Seminoles trailed 75-72 with 19 seconds to go, and set up a play for clutch three-point shooter Michael Snaer (who won two games a year ago with buzzer-beating threes). Snaer’s 28-footer missed and UNC won the rebound.
“I just made a bad decision at the end,” Snaer said.
FSU’s up-and-down season had put them at 8-5 going into the ACC schedule, ending with a road loss to Auburn on Jan. 2. But the Seminoles regrouped to pick up wins on the road against Clemson and Maryland.
With a 3-0 ACC start within reach, FSU instead saw the game slip away as UNC was more aggressive on the boards. The Seminoles have been outrebounded frequently this season, including in their past four games, but not by as significant a disparity as 22 rebounds.
“That’s the ball game right there,” White said. “It’s just very frustrating.”
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