Florida State returns from a 5-day break to take on Georgia Tech (11-10, 3-5 ACC) today at noon in the Tucker Center. The game will be broadcast through ACC Network Extra. Vegas has FSU favored by 12 and KenPom has the ’Noles getting the win with a score of 71-61. The Yellow Jackets boast the 12th best defense in the country according to KenPom and are holding their opponents to an effective field goal percentage of only 44.1%. Georgia Tech protects the rim well and is able to take away the ball at a high rate. Things are not as good on the other end of the floor, however, as the Yellow Jackets rank just 254th in the country in offensive efficiency. Ball control is a major issue as GT comes in at 313th in ball control, turning the ball over on 21.8% of its possessions. The Yellow Jackets do have a propensity for getting to the foul line, which is concerning due to the Seminoles’ own propensity for sending opponents there, and GT is making 69.6% of those foul shots. (KenPom) The Seminoles should be able to exploit Georgia Tech’s inability to rebound on both ends of the floor (KenPom has the Jackets at 275th in offensive rebounding and 247th on the defensive glass) and their tendency for turning the ball over to pull away for the win. Georgia Tech has had several key players sit out recent games due to injury. Point guard and leading scorer Jose Alvarado was out against Louisville on January 19th but has played in the Jackets’ last three games. Brandon Alston, who is shooting 40.9% from three on the season and the only player shooting above 32% from deep, only played 2 minutes against Syracuse on January 12th and has not appeared in the five games since. A hobbled Alvarado and/or a sidelined Alston would certainly make things easier for FSU. Be sure to chime in before and during the game in the comments section below.<doc-sep>No. 25 Florida State hosts Georgia Tech on Saturday at noon from the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Fla. The Seminoles (15-5, 3-4 ACC) are looking to return to .500 in league play after a 1-4 start. They have won four of their last five home games against the Yellow Jackets (11-10, 3-5 ACC). Overall, FSU has won 11 of the last 13 against Georgia Tech. The game will be shown on Raycom Sports, with Wes Durham and Cory Alexander on the call. A channel listing with potential streaming info can be found here. It can also be heard on the Seminole IMG Radio Network with Gene Deckerhoff and Keith Jones handling play-by-play. You can stream the audio here. POSSIBLE STARTING LINEUP FOR FLORIDA STATE C #21 Christ Koumadje (6.6 rpg, 1.5 bpg; 4 pts and 4 rebs. vs. Georgia Tech, Jan, 24, 2018) G #3 Trent Forrest (9.9 ppg, 3.6 apg; 7 pts and 6 rebs vs. Georgia Tech, Jan. 25, 2017) G #5 PJ Savoy (7.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg; 6 pts and 4 rebs vs. Georgia Tech, Jan. 25, 2017) G #14 Terance Mann (11.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg; 30 pts and 5 rebs vs. Georgia Tech, Jan. 24, 2018) G #23 M.J. Walker (7.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg; 9 pts and 1 asts vs. Georgia Tech, Jan. 24, 2018) TOP RESERVES F #25 Mfiondu Kabengele (12.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg; 4 pts and 1 rebs vs. Georgia Tech, Jan. 24, 2018) G #13 Anthony Polite (3.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg; First career game vs. Georgia Tech) F #0 Phil Cofer (9.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg; 12 pts and 4 rebs vs. Georgia Tech, Jan. 25, 2017) G #31 Wyatt Wilkes (1.6 ppg, 0.6 rpg; First career game vs. Georgia Tech) F #1 RaiQuan Gray (4.0 ppg; 2.1 rpg; First career game vs. Georgia Tech) G #10 David Nichols (7.1 ppg, 1.3 apg; First career game vs. Georgia Tech) G #24 Devin Vassell (4.4 ppg, 1.3 rpg; First career game vs. Georgia Tech) POSSIBLE STARTING LINEUP FOR GEORGIA TECH F #34 Abdoulaye Gueye (6.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg; 14 pts and 7 rebs vs. Florida State, Jan. 24, 2018) C #1 James Banks III (10.7 ppg, 7.4 rpg; First career game vs. Florida State) G #0 Michael Devoe (8.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg; First career game vs. Florida State) G #10 Jose Alvarado (13.1 ppg, 3.4 apg; 23 pts and 2 stls vs. Florida State, Jan. 24, 2018) G #13 Curtis Haywood II (7.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg; 2 pts and 1 reb vs. Florida State, Jan. 24, 2018) Officials: Referee is Lee Cassell and the umpires are Raymie Styons and Tim Comer. Welcome back: FSU will welcome back over 80 former Seminole basketball players and coaches on Saturday for a weekend reunion and the FSU-Georgia Tech noon basketball game. They will be honored with individual introductions during first half timeouts. At half-time, the 1969-70 team called the "Busted Flush" will be honored. They had a record of 23-3. 13 of the 14 players on this great team return after 49 years. Among those who will attend are five retired jersey Seminoles -- Dave Fedor, Hugh Durham, Ron King, Charlie Ward and Dave Cowens. Success at home: FSU has won 40 of their last 43 home games. A mark that dates back to the 2015-16 season. FSU is 10-1 at home this season. Their streak over 43 games began just after a home loss to the Yellow Jackets during the 2015-16 season, which marked the last time that they played in Tallahassee. Series history: FSU leads the all-time series with Georgia Tech, 40-29. Head coach Leonard Hamilton is 14-8 overall against Georgia Tech - 12-8 with the Seminoles and he was 2-0 against them at Miami. See you soon: FSU and Georgia Tech will play again, in just two weeks, at the McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, Ga. on Saturday, February 16th. Up next: Following Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech, the Seminoles travel to play at Syracuse (February 5, 8:00 p.m.) before returning to Tallahassee for a two-game home stand against Louisville (February 9, 4:00 p.m.) and Wake Forest (February 13, 7:00 p.m.). Noles247.com will provide updates in the comment section of this article.<doc-sep>(24) Florida State (18-3, 6-2 ACC) defeated Miami (18-5, 6-2 ACC) tonight in Tallahassee by a 62-58 score. Game Recap Florida State jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead after a Valencia Myers layup. However, Miami responded with a 14-4 run to end the quarter taking a 16-10 lead into the second quarter. UM got hot from the perimeter. The Canes made the run by hitting four of their last five threes of the quarter. Both teams came out cold in the second quarter. Neither team scored for over two minutes. Mykea Gray ended the drought with a three ball to give UM their biggest lead at 19-10. FSU responded with a quick 6-1 run to cut the lead to 20-16. After an Endia Banks layup for the Canes, Florida State scored the last four points of the quarter to go into the locker room down 22-20. The third quarter is where the Noles made a serious move. Kiah Gillespie scored the first five points of the half to give the Seminoles a 25-22 lead. Miami answered with a pair of layups from Laura Cornelius and Beatrice Mompremier to regain the lead. Miami’s lead would be short lived however as FSU immediately hit the Canes with a 14-2 run. Taylor Mason broke the run with a pair of free throws but FSU was still up 39-30 going into the fourth quarter. The two teams started the fourth by trading baskets. However, Miami would not go down easily. The Hurricanes hit FSU with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 44-42. Then Gillespie stepped up (again). She delivered a personal 8-0 run to put the Noles up 52-42 with a little over three minutes left. Mykea Gray broke the run with a triple. The Canes cut the lead even further with a pair of free throws from Khaila Prather. Valencia Myers answered with four straight points to put the Noles up 56-47 with about a minute and a half left. From there it was bombs away as UM scored 11 more points with nine of them coming from three pointers. However, FSU protected the lead with clutch free throw shooting. In the last minute and a half the Noles were 8-8 from the line with Sayawni Lassiter hitting six of the shots. After Sarah Mortensen nailed a triple at the buzzer FSU walked away with a hard earned 62-58 victory. Post Game Kiah Gillespie led FSU with 20 points and six boards. Sayawni Lassiter stepped up and scored 11 points - eight from the free throw line. The statistic that told the tale of this game was that UM had 23 turnovers. In the first half they were mostly dead ball turnovers but in the second half the Noles forced several live ball turnovers and that is how they broke open the game. Those turnovers allowed FSU to get out in transition for easy buckets. FSU was poor from deep again going 4-16 (25%) but they were red hot from the free throw line going 12-13 (92.3%) and that allowed them to salt the game away at the end. One concern coming into the game was that UM has a size advantage with Beatrice Mompremier and Emese Hof down low. Both players put up numbers against FSU as they combined for 21 points and 23 rebounds. However, they also combined for 10 turnovers and that limited their effectiveness. This Florida State team has a ton of grit and this game was just another example. FSU did a great job playing through some scoring droughts. This team is obviously facing challenges with all of the injuries. Depth will continue to be an issue for the rest of the season. However, this team has proven that it will continue to compete every time they step on the court and that gives them a chance in every game. Next Game Florida State will host Wake Forest (10-11, 1-7 ACC) on Sunday at 2pm in Tallahassee. The game will be broadcast on ACCNetwork Extra. The Deacs fell to N.C. State tonight 59-50.<doc-sep>
No. 25 Florida State played slightly less ugly basketball than the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday afternoon, and while it wasn’t pretty to watch, the Seminoles’ 59-49 win in Tallahassee is FSU’s third in a row. The ’Noles (16-5) have bounced back from a 1-4 start in ACC play to even their conference record at 4-4, while handing the Jackets (11-11, 3-6) their third straight loss. But really I’m just stalling so I don’t have to write about this game. Okay, if I must. It was a rocky start for the Seminoles, who lost Phil Cofer early— thankfully not to injury. Cofer picked up two fouls in less than three minutes and spent the rest of the first half on the bench. GT wisely countered with a 1-3-1 zone, which concedes the short corner where Cofer typically excels. Still, FSU moved the ball pretty well against the Jackets’ defense, getting decent looks and collecting 8 assists on its first 11 field goals. But despite a lengthy rest, the Seminoles’ misses were particularly nasty. They looked like a team without their legs, which is strange, since they’ve been off since Sunday. Still, a couple of early airballs came up short, and a few other shots barely got to the front of the rim. Of Florida State’s first eight field goals, four were dunks. At the break, the ’Noles had hit just 7-24 non-dunks— and they were winning, 33-27. Both teams shot 39% in the first half. And that was the high-water mark. Tech is not a very talented team, and they showed it. The Jackets’ leader, point guard Jose Alvarado, went 0-10 and fouled out with 0 points. Georgia Tech wins by mucking things up and slogging it out, and that’s just what happened in the second half, as all rhythm was sucked out of the game, thanks in part to a number of official reviews that slowed the contest to a crawl. The Seminoles’ turnovers nearly doubled after halftime, as they had just five at the break and nine after. How bad was the second half? The teams shot 50% after intermission— if you add GT’s 22% shooting to FSU’s 28% clip. The Seminoles’ M.J. Walker, who found his stroke by hitting 6-7 threes against Miami on Sunday, evidently left it in Miami. He could have feasted on the Jackets’ zone but instead finished 0-7 from the floor. As a team, Florida State hit just 4-16 from downtown. But Tech matched the Seminoles’ ineptitude from deep, making a putrid 3-21. The only place the Jackets could shoot was from the line, where they sunk 12-14 free throws (86%). But FSU more than neutralized that, getting to the stripe far more often and making 23-30 (77%). This was the game that refused to end, as GT cut a 41-29 Florida State advantage to 55-49 with a few minutes left before the ’Noles hit their freebies and the clock mercifully bled to zero. How bad was the finish? The Seminoles didn’t make a field goal in the last 5:45, and Tech didn't score a point in the final 4:23. Of the teams’ last 26 combined FG attempts to finish the game, two went through the rim. Mfiondu Kabengele and Terance Mann led the way for Florida State with 12 points each, while Christ Koumadje had eight rebounds and Trent Forrest and David Nichols dished out three assists apiece. These games happen. Just ask NC State, which just scored 24 points in a loss to Virginia Tech. At home. And the Wolfpack are (were) ranked ahead of the Seminoles, at No. 23. The Pack’s embarrassment is good timing for FSU, as any discussion of ugly basketball will begin and end in Raleigh. The ACC’s current slogan is “Bring your ‘A’ game,” but that’s just not going to happen every time you lace them up. The important thing is that the Seminoles survived. And that it’s over.