Florida State will aim for a second season sweep of Miami in three years on Sunday night as the Seminoles head to Coral Gables to battle their rivals. FSU earned its first ACC win against the Hurricanes earlier this month by holding off a late rally at the Donald L. Tucker Center, 68-62,
FSU is still looking for its first ACC road win after snapping a 3-game losing streak at home on Tuesday night with a 9-point win over Clemson. Miami has just one ACC win to this point.
The Match-Up
Who: Florida State Seminoles (14-5, 2-4 ACC) at Miami Hurricanes (9-9, 1-5 ACC)
When: Sunday, Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. EST (ESPNU)
Where: Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida
Key Players
For FSU
Mfiondu Kabengele, F (So.): 12.8 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 51% FG
Terance Mann, G (Sr.): 11.5 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 50% FG
Trent Forrest, G (Jr.): 9.8 PPG, 3.6 APG, 1.9 SPG
For Miami
Chris Lykes, G (Sr.): 17.5 PPG, 3.6 APG, 1.5 SPG
Zach Johnson, G (Sr.): 13.3 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 1.6 SPG
Ebuka Izundu, C (Sr.): 11.6 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 64% FG
What to Watch For
The bench: The thing that put Florida State over the top against Clemson in Tuesday night’s 77-68 win was the play of the FSU bench. Led by Mfiondu Kabengele’s 17 points and David Nichols’ 16 points, Florida State got 45 points from its reserves — which was more than the starters. Miami has just seven healthy players who average more than 10 minutes per contest. FSU got 41 points from its bench in the first meeting between the schools this year to just 10 for the Hurricanes. Nichols led the charge with 13 points in that one.
3-point shooting: During the first meeting between the schools, Florida State and Miami both shot horrendously from beyond the 3-point arc. The Hurricanes were just 4-for-18 from deep while the Seminoles were only slightly better at 6-for-26. Miami set a school-record for made 3s in last season’s contest in Tallahassee, but neither team shot well last season in Coral Gables. Miami was just 5-for-16 while FSU was 5-for-24. After a disastrous shooting slump, the Seminoles made significant progress last time out against Clemson, going 10-for-22 from deep. P.J. Savoy is the guy to watch for FSU while Miami’s D.J. Vasiljevic makes the second-most 3s per game in the ACC and ranks fourth in the conference in 3-point percentage.
Number to Pay Attention To
8.5: That’s the number of turnovers that FSU is committing in ACC wins this season. In losses, FSU is giving it away 13.3 times per contest. The Seminoles turned it over an ACC-low eight times against Clemson on Tuesday and just nine in the previous meeting with Miami. FSU is committing the third-most turnovers per game among ACC schools.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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