Preview: Rested FSU Heads to Raleigh

Florida State will look to run its winning streak to three on Sunday night and clinch at least a .500 record in ACC play as it travels to Raleigh to take on N.C. State after a week off. The contest could go a long way in determining ACC Tournament seeding as the 25th-ranked Seminoles and Wolfpack are separated by just one game in conference.

The Seminoles haven’t traditionally played well against N.C. State, but have won the last three in the series. That includes a 85-78 win two years ago in FSU’s last trip to Raleigh and a 95-71 thrashing of the Wolfpack last season in Tallahassee. The Seminoles are coming off an 88-75 win over Pittsburgh last Sunday. N.C. State has won three straight games, most recently topping Boston College at home.

The Match-Up

Who: No. 25 Florida State Seminoles (19-8, 8-7 ACC) at N.C. State Wolfpack (19-9, 9-6 ACC)
When: Sunday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. EST (ESPNU)
Where: PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina

Key Players

For Florida State: Junior Terance Mann scores 14 points and grabs nearly six rebounds to lead Florida State in both categories. Mann has also shot an efficient 58 percent from the field. Phil Cofer, a senior forward, scores 13.4 points and grabs 5.4 rebounds while shooting better than 50 percent from the field. Senior guard Braian Angola scores 12.7 points per game while adding four rebounds, three assists and a team-high 1.4 steals per contest.

For N.C. State: Senior guard Allerik Freeman scores nearly 15 points per game to lead N.C. State. 7-foot sophomore center Omer Yurtseven scores nearly 14 points and grabs a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 59 percent from the field. Torin Dorn, a junior guard, averages 13.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Braxton Beverly averages 10 points and 3.9 assists per game. Markell Johnson scores nearly nine points to go with an ACC-best 7.8 assists per game.

What to Watch For

Phil Cofer: Senior forward Phil Cofer continued to play great basketball in Sunday night’s win over Pittsburgh, finishing with 14 points and six rebounds. Cofer has averaged 15.5 points per game while shooting 55 percent from the field over his last eight games. Against a North Carolina State team with good size, Cofer’s ability to score from the outside could lure bigs away from the rim. Cofer scored eight points on 3-for-5 shooting against the Wolfpack last season.

Bigs: Few teams have the size to match Florida State, but North Carolina State is one of them. While the Wolfpack don’t excel in areas like rebounding or shot-blocking, Omer Yurtseven should be a tough match-up for the FSU duo of 7-4 Christ Koumadje and 7-1 Ike Obiagu. Senior Abdul-Malik Abu hasn’t had the season that some would have hoped for for N.C. State, but he’s a big body inside who has traditionally given FSU fits. In his last three games against the Seminoles, Abu has averaged 16.3 points on 17-for-31 shooting and eight rebounds per contest.

3-point shooting: Florida State has gotten a noticeable boost from deep with the return of P.J. Savoy, but defending the 3-point line has been an issue even against the worst teams in the league. The Wolfpack rank just 11th in the ACC in 3-point percentage, but Pittsburgh and Syracuse both shoot worse and those teams combined to go 20-for-40 from deep against the Seminoles. Miami, who ranks 10th in the ACC in 3-point percentage, shot 50 percent from deep and hit a school-record 17 triples in a contest in Tallahassee. N.C. State went 11 of 21 from distance its last time out. Braxton Beverly is the guy to watch for the Wolfpack from deep. Percentage-wise, only Virginia defends the perimeter better than N.C. State in the ACC.

Trent Forrest: His unselfishness tends to keep him under the radar, but Florida State sophomore guard Trent Forrest is really coming into his own of late. Forrest has scored in double-figures six times this season, but three in his last five games. After scoring a career-high 16 points in a win over Clemson on Feb. 14, Forrest finished with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting and four assists in Sunday’s win over Pittsburgh. Against an N.C. State team that has multiple capable ball-handlers, Forrest will be an important piece for the Seminoles.

Number to Pay Attention To

4: That’s the number of consecutive victories that Florida State is aiming for over the Wolfpack. That would be the longest win streak over N.C. State for FSU under head coach Leonard Hamilton. The Seminoles previously won three in a row over N.C. State from January 2011 to February 2012. FSU’s longest winning streak ever over the Wolfpack came from January 1992 to February 1993. N.C. State won 12 straight over FSU from February 1999 to March 2004.

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