North Carolina takes down FSU on the road, 96-85

February 25 , 2025

Tallahassee, Florida– RJ Davis had 20 points, Seth Trimble came off the bench to score 17 and North Carolina cruised to a 96-85 victory over Florida State on Monday night. The Heels now have the team’s second four-game winning streak of the season. 

Davis made 5 of 9 shots with three 3-pointers and 7 of 8 free throws for the Tar Heels (18-11, 11-6 Atlantic Coast Conference).. Trimble did his damage on 6-for-10 shooting with two 3-pointers.  Jae’Lyn Withers added 11 points for North Carolina and Elliot Cadeau, Ven-Allen Lubin and reserve Jalen Washington all scored 10. Cadeau had seven assists and Lubin grabbed seven rebounds.

Jamir Watkins had 26 points to lead the Seminoles (16-12, 7-10), who dropped into ninth place. 

RJ Davis and Jalen Washington both had seven points in a balanced first-half attack as nine different Tar Heels scored in building a 49-43 lead. Watkins had 18 points at the break. Drake Powells’s layup 90 seconds into the second half gave North Carolina the first double-digit lead at 55-45. Davis and Cadeau hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and the Tar Heels led 61-47.  Florida State closed within six points three times, the final one on a tip-in by Christian Nitu to make it 72-66 with 9:29 remaining.  RJ Davis answered with a 3-pointer and added two more baskets in a 15-5 run as the Tar Heels upped their advantage to 87-71.

Six different Heels scored in double figures, just the second time this season.  Carolina was effective from the three-point line, hitting 10 of 26 attempts. That moves the record to 16-4 when making at least 30 percent. The Heels are now 40-90 from three in the last four games. 

Carolina was much better defensively in the second half.  Carolina led at halftime after Florida State shot 63 percent in the first 20 minutes. That included the Seminoles making half their eight three-pointers and 9-for-11 at the free throw line.   The Tar Heels were dominant on the offensive glass. The Tar Heels pulled down eight offensive rebounds and turned them into 16 points. Carolina was especially good rebounding missed three-pointers; the Heels went 5-for-16 from the arc in the first half but rebounded six of those. 

FSU Coach Leonard Hamilton is retiring after this season. The longtime FSU coach is the fifth winningest coach in ACC history. Carolina,  has now beaten FSU six straight times. 

Coach comments from UNC’s Hubert Davis 

YOUR TEAM TALLIED 24 SECOND-CHANCE POINTS. HOW BIG WAS THAT IN TONIGHT’S GAME?

“It was huge for us tonight. It’s been huge for us the last four games. It’s something that we have talked about on a daily basis. As long as I’ve been here, even as an assistant with Coach (Roy) Williams, we always go after the offensive glass. And for pretty much most of the season, that was not a strength of ours. But over the last four games, five games it’s been a strength. We’re consistently getting a ‘3’, ‘4’ and ‘5’ to the offensive glass. It has allowed us to be more efficient on the offensive end. We’re getting more cracks at it. And not only are we getting offensive rebounds, we’re converting them. And when you can do that, that’s huge for us.”

North Carolina will host Miami and Florida State plays at No. 2 Duke both games will be on Saturday.