As far as letdowns go, this is about as bad as it gets.

Florida State followed up a wonderfully impressive run of five wins in six consecutive games against ranked teams with a lackadaisical 78-56 loss at Georgia Tech. Its first-half performance was as putrid as can be. Its second half was only better in the sense that it couldn’t possibly have been worse.

Let’s start with the first half stats, which don’t even begin to tell the full story of Florida State’s futility, but give a nice frame of reference:

– First, the halftime score: Georgia Tech 41, Florida State 15.
– Florida State shot 9.1 percent from three and 17.1 percent from the field.
– It attempted eight layups; it made just one.
– Not a single Seminole player made more than one field goal. Not a single Seminole player scored more than four points.
– The team had as many turnovers (six) as made field goals, and twice as many fouls (12).
– Dwayne Bacon and Xavier Rathan-Mayes each had a plus/minus rating of minus-25 in 12 minutes of action. Neither scored a point.
– Florida State had eight(!) offensive rebounds, but scored just two second-chance points.
– The Seminoles scored a pathetic 0.39 points per possession.
– Leonard Hamilton played almost as many players (13) as his team scored points (15).

The story behind the ugly numbers had a lot to do with Georgia Tech too. The Yellow Jackets fluidly moved in and out of a wide array of defensive schemes. They played both half-court man and a three-quarter-court press. They morphed from a 2-3 zone into a 1-3-1 into what looked like something in between. Leonard Hamilton and Florida State certainly didn’t seem know what it was, though they played offense as if they had never seen a simple man-to-man before either.

The result was a Seminole offensive attack that was equal parts fractured and befuddled. It seemed to seek out low percentage shots, especially contested midrange jumpers, and shots that only qualify as jumpers because there is no common basketball term to categorize their repulsiveness.

The list of positives on the offensive end was nonexistent. The defensive numbers weren’t as jarring, but the defense itself was similarly languid. There was no energy, no spark. Josh Okogie burned the Seminoles for 35 points and 14 rebounds. The visitors put Georgia Tech’s star on the line 17 times. Ben Lammers complemented Okogie with 18 and 11 of his own.

Florida State’s defense is structured as an aggressive one; when an aggressive defense plays without effort and focus, it is simply a porous one. Seminole feet dragged in quicksand while Yellow Jacket drivers and cutters sped past them for dunks and backdoor layups.

Florida State extended its pressure after the halftime break, and its offense woke up. Early in the second period, it scored on seven straight possessions, but that spurt only brought it within 20, 51-31. The Seminoles never got any closer than 18. They finished the game at 0.74 points per possession, and shot 20-of-71 from the field.

The letdown will undoubtedly be blamed in part on the schedule. Trap games are a very real phenomenon, and this was one of them. Florida State’s six-game run included wins over Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke, Notre Dame and Louisville. The lone loss was at North Carolina. A road trip to Atlanta had to have worried Leonard Hamilton, and those worries proved justified.

The other side of the stunning result, of course, is Georgia Tech, which now owns wins over the No. 6 and No. 9 teams in the country along with a decent road win at VCU. Josh Pastner, whose team was predicted to finish near (if not at) the bottom of the conference, is stating a sneaky case for ACC coach of the year. If the Yellow Jackets can pull off another top-25 upset over Notre Dame this weekend, it will be time to begin having serious discussions about their intriguing résumé.

Florida State, on the other hand, must regroup. With the meaty portion of its ACC schedule behind it, Hamilton’s team can still challenge for the conference’s regular season crown. But its next two games, on the road at Syracuse and Miami, will be no easier than Wednesday’s. Proving that this stinker in Atlanta was just a fluke will be imperative.

If the Seminoles can’t do that, and if inconsistency becomes a theme, ambitious postseason dreams that seemed very realistic throughout the six-game run will remain just that.