HARTFORD — It all looked so familiar.

Ja Morant drained his first three 3s, added an assist of the fast break, blocked a shot and stole a pass, all in the first five minutes Saturday night as No. 12 Murray State raced out to an early lead over No. 4 Florida State.

The ending, though, didn’t follow suit: Morant on the bench, a towel over his head, the clock running out on a player and team that had become the NCAA Tournament’s darlings. For as high as the Racers had reached in the 48 hours preceding their second-round game, they were left feeling the other end of it all.

The Seminoles, it became clear across 40 minutes, were not here for the same reason as everyone else. They came to clinch their ticket back to the Sweet 16, doing so with a thorough takedown of Murray State in a 90-62 win at XL Center.

“It really just hurt me,” Morant said after finishing with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists. “I was just thinking about what I could have done to help us get a win to extend our season. I feel like that’s what hurt me the most, not being able to take the floor again with this group of guys.”

In the immediate aftermath of the loss — the Racers’ first since Jan. 31 — Morant was not ready to make any decisions on his future. But after playing his way into a projected top-three pick in June’s NBA draft, it was likely his college career ended unceremoniously Saturday night, unable to repeat the triple-double masterpiece and win he had crafted Thursday against Marquette.

Florida State, meanwhile, could begin making plans for next Thursday’s West Region game against top-seeded Gonzaga in Anaheim, Calif. A year after making a surprising run to the Elite Eight as a 9-seed, the deep and athletic ACC power extended its season, which has been dedicated from the start to senior forward Phil Cofer’s dad, Mike, the former Lions linebacker who passed away Thursday. Cofer got the devastating news after a first-round win over Vermont, and while he remained out Saturday with a nagging foot injury, he was still on the bench as his teammates rallied around him.

With “MC” patches above the word “Family” on their warm-up shirts and tributes written on their shoes, the Seminoles made sure to give Cofer a chance to play again if he is physically able to.

“What I did the night before was Google and YouTube Mike Cofer … and just saw how hard he played, how much fight he gave on the field, and I just wanted to bring that with me,” said senior guard Terance Mann, who led the way with 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists. “And I feel like that’s what I did today. I played my heart out for that.”

That Florida State was not the main attraction coming into the night never seemed to register. The Seminoles just kept on hitting their 3s — 8 of their first 11 — and making life miserable inside with their length.

The Racers were never able to get the game back under control, trailing by 16 at halftime and watching the deficit grow in the second half. The swagger that was dripping from their navy blue and gold jerseys on Thursday dried up, denied what would have been the second-ever trip in program history to the Sweet 16.

Now, the next time Morant takes the court, it is all but guaranteed to be in the NBA. His teammates still plan on making it back to the Big Dance next March without him, but Morant said he hoped he would be remembered by what kind of teammate he was. His teammates’ take?

“Greatest player of all time, wouldn’t you say?” junior forward Darnell Cowart said. “His legacy, I don’t think it’ll ever be matched.”