WRAL Sports Fan

ACC Tournament

Florida State beats Ga. Tech, 64-62

By Jake Lloyd

Mar 13, 2009

Atlanta — Everybody in the dome, including the man who would get the ball, thought it was going to one man.

Toney Douglas.

And then, in a quick instant, Derwin Kitchen had the ball in his hands and an open lane to the basket in front of him. A dribble and reverse layup plus a foul later, Kitchen had put Florida State ahead by a point with 7.7 seconds remaining.

After Kitchen’s free throw and a miss by Georgia Tech’s Iman Shumpert at the buzzer, it was a final: The 19th-ranked Seminoles (24-8) had escaped with a 64-62 victory over the No. 12-seeded Yellow Jackets (12-19).

Behind the unlikeliest of heroes.

The play, according to inbounder Luke Loucks, was for Kitchen to be a decoy, running off a couple screens and then clearing out so the ball could go to Douglas or Solomon Alabi for a dunk if Alabi’s man followed Douglas after the 7-foot-1 center set a screen.

Loucks was as surprised as anyone when Kitchen immediately came free.

“Normally we don’t even look at that option,” Loucks said.

But on a day when Douglas seemed to be the only Seminole who could create offense for the team and scored 25 points, he didn’t have anything to do with the game-winning play — at least tangibly.

Douglas made 11 of 16 shots, including three of Florida State’s four 3-pointers. Alabi was the beneficiary of many easy baskets, shooting 7-for-10 and scoring 14 points.

But the rest of the team shot 10-for-31 and 1-for-9 from 3-point range.

Coach Leonard Hamilton said that the Seminoles executed poorly on offense most of the game, but the final play epitomized what they’ll need to do if they’re going to knock off their next opponent: No. 1 North Carolina in Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. semifinal.

Teammates will have to step up and assist Douglas, the runner-up for ACC player of the year.

“He brought us all in the huddle and he said, ‘You guys got to be confidant, you need to step up and knock down some shots here,’” Loucks said of what Douglas told the team during its rough offensive outing.

“I ended up missing both of mine right after that, so I felt really bad. He has a lot of confidence in everyone, especially when a team’s using so much energy to defend him.”

That’s exactly what the Yellow Jackets did, denying Douglas the ball whenever someone else brought it up the floor and then trapping him when he had it in his hands.

Douglas kept passing to teammates, and they kept missing shots. That explains why he finished with just one assist. But the senior has been around for quite awhile and experienced plenty of heartbreak, and he knows that he can’t win games by himself.

“That’s the confidence we have in each other,” Douglas said. “Knowing that everyone can make plays on the court.”

And Douglas’ teammates know that even if they miss shots and make mistakes, Douglas will keep them involved. He won’t try to take over a game when the defense is focusing so much attention on him.

That’s something that’s been the case all season, despite the fact that Kitchen is a sophomore and fellow starters Alabi and Chris Singleton are freshmen. Senior Uche Echefu is the only other upperclassman in the lineup.

“For everybody to have confidence going in to (play) North Carolina, that’s going to be big,” Kitchen said. “Because I don’t know if Toney could beat North Carolina by himself. They’re too good of a team.

“Everybody’s going to have to be ready.”

Douglas won’t get caught up in the hype of the game. He knows that ACC player of the year Ty Lawson probably won’t play — and he shrugs his shoulders.

When asked about getting another chance at the Tar Heels after losing 80-77 on Lawson’s buzzer-beater during the regular season, he shrugged and said, “There’s always motivation when playing the No. 1 team in the country.”

As for what the Seminoles will do differently if Lawson, indeed, doesn’t play and the slower, way less explosive Bobby Frasor starts in his place?

“Keep dong what we’ve been doing all year,” Douglas said. “Guarding, ball pressure, staying in stance, read and react, stuff like that.

“All the games we won, we won because of defense.”

On Friday, the Seminoles ultimately won because of a last-second play by someone other than Douglas — after, of course, he carried them for most of the afternoon.

Now, his teammates want to repay him for leading them so well. Douglas might not talk about it, but he’s never beaten the Tar Heels in his three seasons at Florida State since transferring from Auburn after his freshman season.

On Saturday, his brother — NFL wide receiver Harry Douglas, who plays for the Atlanta Falcons — and other family members will likely be in the stands to watch the Jonesboro, Ga., native.

Douglas’ teammates will try to deliver, once again, for him.

“The seniors, for the past four years, haven’t gotten to beat North Carolina,” Alabi said. “So we’re going to try to make sure they get a win.”