Florida State will look to tie its best start in school-history on Saturday as the Seminoles will be in Sunrise to take on Oklahoma State in the Orange Bowl Classic. The Seminoles are in the polls for the first time this season after a 3-0 week that consisted of wins over Florida, Loyola-Maryland and most recently, Tulane.
Oklahoma State is 7-2 on the season, but both losses came to ranked opponents in Texas A&M and Wichita State. Stillwater is also where FSU’s Leonard Hamilton got his coaching start at the college level. Saturday’s contest will be the first meeting between the schools since December 1964 when the Cowboys beat the Seminoles in Nashville, 60-56. FSU has won seven straight in the Orange Bowl Classic, going back to New Year’s Eve of 2005.
The Match-Up
Who: Oklahoma State Cowboys (7-2) vs. No. 19 Florida State Seminoles (9-0)
What: Metro PCS Orange Bowl Classic
When: Saturday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. EST (Fox Sports Sun, Regional)
Where: BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida
Key Players
For Oklahoma State: Senior guard Jeffrey Carroll averages 12.7 points and 5.7 rebounds to lead Oklahoma State in both categories, although he has not been efficient from the field. Tavarius Shine, a junior guard, is averaging 11 points per contest. Senior and transfer Kendall Smith is scoring better than 10 per game while dishing out a team-best 3.9 assists per game.
For Florida State: Averaging a team-high 15.6 points to go with 5.6 rebounds per game, junior Terance Mann has been the man for FSU this season. Mann is also shooting nearly 65 percent from the field. Senior Braian Angola is averaging just shy of 13 points per game to go with a team-high tying 3.6 assists per contest. Phil Cofer, a senior forward, averages 12.3 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds per game on 55 percent shooting. Guard C.J. Walker is averaging 11.2 points to go with 3.6 assists per game and a team-high tying 1.9 steals.
What to Watch For
Point guard play: Sophomore C.J. Walker had been on fire of late for Florida State prior to a lackluster effort against Tulane in which he scored just three points on 1-for-8 shooting. The good news for FSU is Braian Angola and Trent Forrest are two other players who can man the point guard role and all three bring something different to the table. That should make for a tough match-up for Oklahoma State’s duo of Kendall Smith and Brandon Averette. Both teams rank high in their respective conferences in assists.
Defense: It’s no secret that Florida State has liked to get out and run in recent seasons, but the Seminoles are back to playing very good defense. Over their last five games, the Seminoles haven’t allowed a single opponent to shoot as high as 41 percent from the field. Defense has also been a staple of what Oklahoma State has been about this season. The Cowboys are allowing foes to shoot just 40 percent from the field this season. In the their two losses, opponents have shot 47 percent. FSU shoots 50 percent as a team.
3-Point Shooting: Although the percentage isn’t great, Oklahoma State ranks in the top 50 nationally, attempting more than 26 3-pointers per game. That could be the ultimate equalizer on Saturday. As a team, the Cowboys are shooting less than 34 percent and that number falls to 20 percent in losses this season. The Seminoles are holding opponents to less than 29 percent from deep for the season. FSU is shooting at a 36 percent clip, which would be its highest since the 2013-14 season.
Terance Mann: With its top three scorers from last season gone, Florida State wasn’t sure who was going to carry the offensive load, but the answer has been Terance Mann. Mann is not only averaging nearly 16 points per game, but he’s been one of the more efficient scorers in the ACC, shooting nearly 65 percent. Mann is just two games removed from a career-high 25 points against Florida. A 7-point effort against Rutgers where Mann spent the majority of the night in foul trouble, is the only contest where he has yet to score in double-figures this season.
Number to Pay Attention To
30-1: That’s Florida State’s record in its last 31 games in the state of Florida. The lone blemish was the loss to Xavier in the second round of last season’s NCAA Tournament in Orlando.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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