Florida State will look to run its winning streak to three on Wednesday night as the Seminoles wrap up a mini 2-game homestand against North Carolina State. FSU is coming off consecutive blowout victories over Miami and Clemson. The Seminoles beat the Tigers 109-61 on Sunday for their largest margin of victory ever in ACC play.
N.C. State will limp into the contest after losing three straight, including the last two at home. The Wolfpack however, do have a road win over Duke this season. FSU defeated N.C. State 85-78 last season in Raleigh, thanks to 22 points from Malik Beasley. Behind 20 points from Dwayne Bacon, FSU held off a late N.C. State rally in Tallahassee to sweep the season series, 77-73.
The Match-Up
Who: N.C. State Wolfpack (14-10, 3-8 ACC) at No. 14 Florida State Seminoles (20-4, 8-3 ACC)
When: Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. EST (ESPN2)
Where: Donald L. Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee, Florida
Key Players
For N.C. State: Freshman Dennis Smith, Jr. is as good as they come in the ACC, averaging 19.2 points and a team-high seven assists. Sharpshooters Terry Henderson and Maverick Rowan combine to average more than 27 points per contest. Abdul-Malik Abu is the Wolfpack’s biggest threat down low, scoring 12 points to go with a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game. Sophomore Torin Dorn is scoring 10.5 points per game to go with a 53 percent mark from the field.
For Florida State: Averaging 17.6 points per game, Dwayne Bacon is FSU’s leading scorer for a second year in a row. Freshman forward Jonathan Isaac averages nearly 13 points, but does just about everything for the Seminoles, leading the team with 7.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. Redshirt junior Xavier Rathan-Mayes is the primary facilitator for FSU. Rathan-Mayes averages 10.3 points and a team-high 4.8 assists per game.
What to Watch For
Dennis Smith, Jr: The ACC’s leader in assists, Dennis Smith, Jr. can be a 1-man wrecking crew. Smith has few weaknesses in his game and will be a tough cover for FSU’s point guard duo of Xavier Rathan-Mayes and C.J. Walker. The Seminoles’ best chance at slowing down Smith may simply be to force him to work on the defensive end.
3-point shooting: N.C. State doesn’t make a lot of 3-pointers, but it does have a number of guys who can stroke it. Terry Henderson ranks in the top 10 in the ACC in 3-pointers made and 3-point percentage, but Maverick Rowan also shoots it very well from deep. Where the Wolfpack struggle is defending the 3-point arc. As a team, FSU ranks in the middle of the pack in the ACC, but N.C. State is dead last in the conference in 3-point defense. The Seminoles are coming off a contest against Clemson where they shot an ungodly 17-for-30 from deep.
Dwayne Bacon: Dwayne Bacon tied a career-high on Sunday with 29 points and six 3-point makes on 10-for-14 shooting from the field. After a mini slump, Bacon seems to be red hot again and that’s bad news for the Wolfpack. In two games last season against N.C. State, Bacon averaged 17.5 points, including a 20-point effort in Tallahassee. Bacon also rattled home the jumper in the final minute that put N.C. State away.
Home court advantage: Florida State is 15-0 this year on its home floor and crowds have been consistently large since the start of ACC play. Historically however, midweek games against unranked opponents haven’t always brought in the large numbers. We’ll see if the crowd is again a factor on Wednesday night.
Number to Pay Attention To
51.2: That was the percentage that Florida State shot from the field in two games against N.C. State last season. The Seminoles currently rank among the nation’s leaders in field goal percentage at 49 percent. The Wolfpack have allowed opponents to shoot nearly 44 percent from the floor this season.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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