Saddled with a three-game losing streak, Florida State will welcome Boston College to Tallahassee on Tuesday night with the opportunity to sweep the season series and improve in the ACC standings.
Coach Leonard Hamilton’s Seminoles (13-12, 7-7 ACC) were looking strong with a 7-4 mark after beating BC 63-62 in Boston two weeks ago, but three straight single-digit setbacks have hampered the squad.
FSU lost 80-76 at home to Virginia on Feb. 10 before losing at Virginia Tech 83-75 three days later.
In their last outing on their home court, the Seminoles received 15 points from Jamir Watkins and 14 from reserve Cam Corhen, but that was not enough as then-No. 9 Duke recorded a 76-67 victory on Saturday.
FSU has had problems defending hot shooters. On Saturday, it was the Blue Devils’ Jared McCain, who swished 8 of 11 from behind the arc on his way to a career-high 35 points.
“I think all of us who played basketball, we seem to have one of those nights where you can’t miss regardless of how you defend it,” said Hamilton, whose club is tied for seventh in the conference entering Tuesday. “I thought McCain had one of those nights. But that’s kind of the story of our season. There always seems to be one guy that always plagued us.”
The Eagles (15-10, 6-8) have won their past two contests, but are 11th in the ACC.
At home Saturday against slumping Miami, BC’s Mason Madsen set a pair of career highs — 25 points and seven 3-pointers — as the Eagles beat the Hurricanes 85-77, snapping a four-game losing streak in the all-time series.
The Eagles connected on 15 shots from behind the arc for the first time since making 18 against Miami on Jan. 21, 2021, and improved to 8-0 when scoring over 80 points.
“The makeup of our team is obviously a little different this year,” Madsen said. “We needed every shot we made. It’s not always what we’ve hung our hat on, but I think to be able to win games in different ways speaks volumes about this team and will serve us well down the stretch.”
–Field Level Media