Florida State will try to rebound from a debilitating loss against a team that handed it one earlier in the season. After a 76-72 defeat at the hands of lowly Wake Forest on Wednesday, the Seminoles will look to right the ship on Saturday when they visit Louisville.
The Cardinals rallied from 17 points down to snap FSU’s 29-game home winning streak on Jan. 10, 73-69. Since joining the ACC, Louisville is 3-1 against the Seminoles and 1-0 at home. The Cardinals have lost two of three after a 5-1 start to ACC play. They were most recently defeated at No. 2 Virginia on Wednesday night, 74-64.
The Match-Up
Who: Florida State Seminoles (16-6, 5-5 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (16-6, 6-3 ACC)
When: Saturday, Feb. 3 at 4 p.m. EST (ACC Network)
Where: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky
Key Players
For Florida State: Terance Mann’s averages of 15.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game lead the team while the junior is shooting 59 percent. Braian Angola is scoring better than 14 points per game to go with 4.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and a team-best 1.6 steals per game. Phil Cofer is scoring better than 13 points per game to go with 5.6 rebounds per game and a field goal percentage of nearly 50 percent.
For Louisville: Like Mann and Angola for FSU, Deng Adel does a lot of things well for Louisville, averaging a team-high 15.6 points per game to go with 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 48 percent from the field. Senior Quentin Snider averages nearly 13 points per game and a team-high four assists per contest. Ray Spalding is scoring better than 11 points per game while shooting 52 percent and grabbing a team-high 9.2 rebounds per game.
What to Watch For
Versatile scorers: Both Florida State and Louisville have players who can score in a number of ways and do a number of things. For FSU, those two are 6-foot-6 Terance Mann and 6-8 Phil Cofer. Mann is a slasher who can rebound and defend. Cofer is a forward who can stretch the floor. Louisville’s Deng Adel, a 6-7 forward, helps the Cardinals in a number of ways and is a match-up nightmare. Adel led Louisville with 16 points in the first match-up while Mann paced the Seminoles with 25.
Ray Spalding: How Florida State has defended long, athletic players this season has been a major difference-maker. The Cardinals have one of those in Ray Spalding, a 6-10 junior. Spalding is an efficient player from the floor with some range and the ability to rebound and block shots. During the first meeting, Spalding finished with 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
3-point shooting: It hasn’t traditionally been a big part of Florida State’s arsenal, but how it has shot from beyond the 3-point arc has made a big difference for the Seminoles this season. In Wednesday’s loss, FSU managed to shoot just 6-for-21 from downtown. In its loss to the Cardinals earlier in the year, Florida State went just 8-for-24. Louisville shot the same rate. In its three wins prior to Wednesday, FSU shot 23-for-52 from deep — a solid 44 percent.
C.J. Walker: The x-factor this season from an offensive standpoint has been sophomore guard C.J. Walker. Walker struggled his last time out as he managed just five points on 2-for-6 shooting in the loss to Wake Forest. In losses this season, Walker has averaged just 5.7 points on less than 30 percent shooting. In wins, he averages 10.7 points and shoots 43 percent. Only once in FSU’s six losses has Walker played well and that was a 19-point effort against Boston College. Against Louisville the first time around this season, Walker was held scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting.
Number to Pay Attention To
1: That’s the total number of wins that FSU has against Louisville under head coach Leonard Hamilton. The Cardinals are only in their fourth season as a member of the ACC, but that’s the fewest victories over any current ACC school for the Seminoles.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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