Florida State men's basketball drops close game 75-68 to No. 3 North Carolina

Florida State men's basketball gave a top-three team in the nation all it could handle Saturday, but ultimately fell short.

The Seminoles dropped their third ACC contest to No. 3 North Carolina on the season 75-68 in front of 10,092 fans at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, despite holding a five-point halftime lead.

The Tar Heels (17-3, 9-0 ACC) outscored FSU (12-8, 6-3) 39-27 in the second half after the Seminoles held a 41-36 halftime lead.

RJ Davis led UNC with 24 points, while Elliot Cadeau added 16 points and six assists, which has won 10 straight games and is 9-0 to start conference play for the first time since the 2001 season.

Primo Spears had 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting to lead the Seminoles, while Jamir Watkins and Darrin Green Jr. each added 12 points. Chandler Jackson chipped in 10 points.

The Seminoles shot just 38% in the second half after shooting 50% in the first half. FSU finished the game hitting just 1 of 9 shots from the field and were held without a field goal in the final 2:36.

"I thought they did a tremendous defensive job, especially in the second half," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said of North Carolina.

"We didn't have the ball screen defense nearly as well. They did a very good job. I think that was when we showed a lot of inexperience and they took advantage of I thought that from an effort standpoint, I thought the effort was good. But we had some dips, like coming out and in the second half.

"I thought we rushed some things and I thought that defensively could have maybe done a better job of contesting those threes, which we've done a really good job in the first half."

Here are our takeaways.

Tale of two halves for Seminoles

FSU forced UNC to turn the ball over 10 times in the first half, leading to 19 points off turnovers. The Tar Heels entered averaging 10.4 per game.

The Tar Heels were less loose with the basketball in the second half, turning it over just five times and allowing FSU to score two points off them.

Spears did have a key turnover on a steal in the second half and scored on a layup to cut the UNC lead to 70-68 with 2:36 left. FSU did not score again.

Watkins led the team with three steals, while Spears and Taylor Bol Bowen each had two and FSU finished with 11 as a team. The Seminoles also added four blocks, with Baba Miller having two.

Struggles to keep UNC off the offensive boards

The Tar Heels collected 25 offensive rebounds and out-rebound FSU 41-32 for the game.

Harrison Ingram finished with 17 rebounds to go along with his 13 points for the Tar Heels. He collected seven offensive rebounds, constantly giving UNC second-chance opportunities.

The Tar Heels outscored FSU 14-10 in second-chance points and also took precious time off the clock in a close game.

Not getting rebounds on missed UNC shots also prevented potential fastbreak opportunities for FSU.

Free throw struggles

The difference in the game came down to knocking down free throws.

The Seminoles shot 44% from the field and 45% from 3-point range but struggled with free throws, shooting 5-of-11.

UNC shot 19-of-24 from the charity stripe, while just shooting 41% from the field and 38% from 3-point range.

There wasn't a huge foul discrepancy either, as UNC committed 16 fouls and FSU 22, with a handful of those coming late in the game as the Seminoles tried to stop the clock.

Watkins shot 4 of 5 from the line, but the rest of the team was 1 of 6.

Up next:

FSU hits the road for a pair of games, including a trip to face Louisville at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3. The Seminoles then travel to Boston College on Feb. 6.

This story will be updated.

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports), Instagram (tlhnolesports) and YouTube channel (NoleSportsTD).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: RJ Davis leads No. 3 North Carolina to victory over FSU men's basketball