The Seminoles once again controlled the game late but fell apart in the end against the Demon Deacons.
Florida State basketball has now lost two late leads in a span of a week.
The first one arrived against Syracuse on the road. This latest one showed up at the 6:41 mark of the second half against Wake Forest.
FSU ultimately struggled to score in the final 1:04 of the game in Tallahassee -- eventually falling 69-68 to the Demon Deacons.
Lajae Jones hit a driving layup that made it 61-53 late for the 'Noles. Myles Colvin swished two free throws for Wake Forest to cut the lead to six. Then Chauncey Wiggins put FSU back up by eight with 4:27 left -- making it 63-55. Wiggins tacked on a free throw to build the lead to nine.
But the Deacons outscored the Seminoles 14-4 the rest of the night.
Nate Calmese sparked the run off his 8-foot turnaround jump shot. He later hit a layup following a pair of free throws from Cooper Schweiger. Juke Harris went on to nail four straight free throws to slice the FSU lead to 66-65.
Robert McCray V made two more free throws for FSU to make it 68-65...ultimately becoming the final points of the night for the Seminoles. Schweiger and Calmese scored the final points of the evening for WF -- the latter making an 8-foot floating jump shot with eight seconds left for the go-ahead game winner.
Florida State got outscored 38-34 during the second half after leading at halftime. Again, it's the second time FSU lost a lead by near double-digits -- as Syracuse erased an eight-point lead to clinch the win over FSU back on Tuesday night.
Florida State shot 38% from the floor including only hitting 23% from behind the arc. FSU, though, outrebounded Wake Forest with a 44-28 advantage. Jones led in that category with 10 off the bench. Four different 'Noles grabbed between five to six rebounds: McCray V (six boards), Alex Steen, Thomas Bassong, and Martin Somerville.
Wiggins led all Florida State scorers with dropping 15. McCray V finished with 12. Bassong added 11 points to become the third and final FSU player to reach double figures in scoring. He also hit the most threes from FSU with only two made.
Florida State remains winless in Atlantic Coast Conference play at 0-5 -- featuring a more lopsided loss to North Carolina State compared to the last two ACC games. They're also 7-11 overall in 2025-26.
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