Osborne, Gray help No. 16 Florida State beat Miami 81-59
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Malik Osborne had 11 points and 10 rebounds, RaiQuan Gray added 10 points and 11 rebounds and No. 16 Florida State routed short-handed Miami 81-59 on Wednesday night for its fifth straight victory.
M.J. Walker and Sardaar Calhoun also had 11 points apiece for the Seminoles (10-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Florida State trails only Virginia (7-0) in the ACC standings. The Seminoles have won 22 straight ACC home games.
Walker made 5 of 6 shots from the floor, and Calhoun was 4 of 6 shots.
Osborne has been a reserve in all of Florida State’s games and has now scored in double figures in three of his last four games.
“He is giving us tremendous effort,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “He’s playing with a lot of energy, a big guy who is an active inside rebounder. He’s a very valuable asset to our program.”
Isaiah Wong scored 21 points on 6-of-16 shooting for Miami (6-9, 2-8). Anthony Walker and Kameron McGusty each had 13 points.
“Florida State is really an outstanding team,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “They’re very deep, very talented.”
The Seminoles shot 32 of 62 from the floor. The Hurricanes shot 20 of 54.
Florida State used a 12-0 run in the second half to extend its lead to 54-33 with 11:06 left. The Seminoles led by 24 points, at 71-47 late in the game.
“We did a really good job to start the second half,” Larranaga said. “Then we had a couple of easy shots that didn’t go down for us. We were never able to recover from that.”
REBOUNDING TURNAROUND
Florida State struggled earlier in the season on the boards but have improved dramatically. The Seminoles had a staggering rebounding advantage, 45-23. In their last five games, FSU has had the rebounding edge four times and tied in the other game.
“It’s been a mindset,” Osborne said. “There’s no way anybody should be outrebounding us. We should be dominating the boards.”
SHORTHANDED CANES
Miami’s season has been significantly impacted by injuries and the Hurricanes added Elijah Olaniyi (shoulder) to the list against Florida State. Olaniyi was averaging 10.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in his last eight games. The Hurricanes were already playing without guards Chris Lykes (ankle) and Earl Timberlake (shoulder) as well as center Rodney Miller Jr. (knee).
TAKEAWAYS
Miami had eight first-half turnovers, shot just 8 of 25 (32 percent) from the floor in the first 20 minutes and lacked the manpower to keep up with Florida State’s depth.
Florida State won on a night when Hamilton lamented the team’s struggles from 3-point range, making just 6 of 18 (33.3 percent) of their shots. Still, the Seminoles picked up their sixth straight victory in the rivalry.
UP NEXT
Miami: At Wake Forest on Saturday.
Florida State: At Georgia Tech on Saturday.