Preview: Tar Heels Invade Tallahassee for Top 25 Match-up

After a hard-fought loss to one of the ACC’s most storied programs, Florida State will host another one on Wednesday. FSU’s first game of the 2018 calendar year will come against No. 12 North Carolina.

After losing at Duke, FSU will have its work cut out for it as it looks to extend its home winning streak to 28 games. The Tar Heels topped the Seminoles in Chapel Hill last season, 96-83. North Carolina has won the last seven in the series. The last FSU victory was an 85-82 contest for the 2012 ACC title.

The Match-Up

Who: No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels (12-2, 1-0 ACC) at No. 24 Florida State Seminoles (11-2, 0-1 ACC)
When: Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2017 at 7 p.m. EST (ESPN2)
Where: Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Florida

Key Players

For North Carolina: Last season’s NCAA Tournament hero Luke Maye leads the Tar Heels with more than 18 points per game and nearly 11 rebounds. Maye is shooting 52 percent from the floor and 45 percent from deep. Senior guard Joel Berry averages 17.2 points and a team-high 3.2 assists per game. Junior guard Kenny Williams averages 12.4 points and a team-high 1.3 steals. Pittsburgh transfer Cameron Johnson is averaging nearly 12 points for the defending national champions after missing the first 11 games.

For Florida State: Terance Mann, a junior guard, leads FSU at 14.6 points and six rebounds per game while shooting better than 62 percent. Senior forward Phil Cofer isn’t far behind, averaging 14.5 points while shooting 57 percent and an ACC-best 51.4 percent from deep. Guard Braian Angola, also a senior, scores 12.5 points per contest.

What to Watch For

Terance Mann: Terance Mann was held shy of double-digits scoring for just the third time this season on Saturday, finishing with nine points in a 100-93 loss at Duke. The game before against Southern Mississippi, he was held to just four. Against an ultra-athletic North Carolina team, the Seminoles will need a big night from their leading scorer. The first time Mann was held under 10 points came against Rutgers as Mann scored just seven points. He followed that up with a career-high 25 points against Florida. Mann finished with 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting and five rebounds in last season’s loss to the Tar Heels.

FSU seniors: At 11-2 and ranked in the top 25, the season has certainly been a success so far for the Seminoles, but the improved play from their two scholarship seniors may be the biggest reason why. Forward Phil Cofer and guard Braian Angola are both coming off career-games at Duke. Cofer scored a career-high 28 points in the loss on 11-for-16 shooting and 6 of 10 from deep. Angola scored 23 points with four of his five 3s coming in the second half. Against a high-scoring North Carolina team that can dominate inside, Angola’s long frame and Cofer’s ability to stretch the floor will be real assets on Wednesday night.

Joel Berry: Senior guard Joel Berry is averaging better than 17 points per game, but hasn’t been as efficient as in years past. Berry is shooting just 39 percent from the field this season, but had a monster game against the Seminoles a year ago. In last season’s win in Chapel Hill, Berry scored 26 points to propel the Tar Heels to victory. He has scored in double-figures in eight straight games, but FSU has some capable bodies to throw at him in C.J. Walker, Angola and Trent Forrest.

Rebounding: The biggest reason for Florida State’s defeat at Duke on Saturday was its inability to win on the glass. The Seminoles were outrebounded, 53-35 in the loss while allowing 23 offensive rebounds. Led by Luke Maye, the Tar Heels actually lead the ACC in rebounding margin at nearly +14 per game. That’s an area where UNC has dominated FSU the last two years and to make matters worse, the Seminoles are still likely to be without 7-foot-4 center Chris Koumadje. The Tar Heels held a 56-34 edge on the glass last season in Chapel Hill and a 50-33 advantage in their last trip to Tallahassee.

Number to Pay Attention To

2-9: That’s Florida State’s record at home against North Carolina under head coach Leonard Hamilton. The last victory was a 90-57 beatdown of the Tar Heels on Jan. 14, 2012.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson