 will play defending national champion Villanova on Sunday.Tremont Waters made three free throws to pull LSU even at 76 with 11.5 seconds to go in overtime before Kabengele's shot from the corner bounced off the rim and into the basket.After trailing by nine, Florida State forced overtime when Trent Forrest tied it at 68-68 on a layup with 2.8 seconds left.Naz Reid's 3-pointer at the buzzer hit off the rim for LSU.Reid hit a 3 and Emmitt Williams had a fast-break dunk as LSU went up 59-52 with 7 1/2 minutes left.M. J. Walker had 13 first-half points as Florida State took a 30-29 lead at the break.LSU (5-1) will go against Oklahoma State in Sunday's third-place game.)
Nov 23, 2018LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- No. 19 LSU and No. 14 Florida State are the only two teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll that were invited to the AdvoCare Invitational.And Friday, they'll face off for a chance to play in the event's championship game Sunday at HP Fieldhouse.The Tigers (5-0) and Seminoles (4-0) both cruised to double-digit wins on Thanksgiving in the second round of the event, which began Monday. LSU defeated the College of Charleston 67-55 and Florida State dispatched of the University of Alabama at Birmingham 81-63.That sets up a clash of unbeatens Friday afternoon with the victor advancing to face the winner of the other semifinal between Villanova (3-2) and Oklahoma State (3-1).Emmitt Williams and Skylar Mays led the way for the Tigers in Thursday's win. Williams scored a team-high 14 points, while Mays added 12.But Tigers coach Will Wade was most impressed with his team's defense."I thought our defense was good. We were locked in, we had a good plan," Wade, whose Tigers forced Charleston to miss nine of its first 12 shots to set the tone for the game, told The (La.) Advocate. "Our guys executed very, very well. Overall, it was our best defensive game." Florida State's Terance Mann was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor and scored a game-high 17 points Thursday for the Seminoles, who handed UAB (3-1) its first defeat of the year.The Seminoles also got double-figure outputs from Koumadje, Mfiondu Kabengele and P. J. Savoy against UAB. Koumadje nearly posted a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds to go along with three blocks, while Savoy and Kabengele added 10 points each. Florida State's Trent Forrest was all over the stat sheet too with a team-high 11 rebounds, five points and three assists.Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton was asked after the win about the Seminoles' next opponent LSU, which has similar depth and playmakers."They're extremely deep," Hamilton told the Orlando Sentinel. "They're big and strong and athletic. They're as talented as any team that we'll play. The typical ACC-type team. The quality of depth, they have ball handlers, athletics guys who are big and strong and they're well-coached. That's why they're a top-25 ranked team."Those are the types of teams we're going to be playing once we get in the ACC so it's good for us to play a high-level quality opponent this early in the season, get a chance to see where you are and see what areas of your game that you need to work on." LSU played earlier on the day Thursday, but Florida State's 9:30 p.m. ET tip time against UAB won't give the Seminoles long to rest before Friday's 3:30 p.m. ET tipoff against the Tigers. Hamilton said he wasn't concerned about the short turnaround."I don't think we're going to have any problem with that," Hamilton told the Sentinel. "I think the guys enjoy being in a tournament like this. We're learning, and we've got to go back and try to evaluate pluses and minuses of what we did tonight." If LSU wins Friday, it will match its best start since opening 6-0 in 2012-13.
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