Coming off their biggest win of the season the Miami Hurricanes travel to Florida State Saturday. Miami defeated Florida State 80-74 earlier this month at the Watsco Center.
The Miami Hurricanes make the trip to Tallahassee 15-4 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. The Seminoles are 15-5 overall and 4-4 in the ACC. Miami is coming off their biggest win of the season on Wednesday night. The Hurricanes defeated Louisville 78-75 in overtime. The game will forever be known as the Lonnie Walker game.
Walker scored 25 points, hit the game-tying shot with four seconds left in regulation to send it to overtime and added a game-saving block in the OT with two seconds remaining. Dewan Huell was also sensational but was overshadowed because of Walker’s performance. Huell finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Huell neutralized the Cardinals outstanding frontcourt. Louisville entered the game with Miami second in the nation in blocked shots. Huell will have to play another outstanding game against a big Florida State frontline.
Miami is going to have to do a better job on the boards than they did in their win over the Seminoles a few weeks ago. Florida State outrebounded the Hurricanes 44-28 in their loss at the Watsco Center. Anthony Lawrence had 12 rebounds and Huell eight in that game, but Miami is going to need more of a team effort Saturday.
Mfiondu Kabengele and Christ Koumadje came off the bench to dominate for the Seminoles on the boards. They had 12 and eight respectively. It was Florida State’s team crashing the boards that made the difference. Miami had three players in the game with four or more rebounds, Florida State seven.
The Miami Hurricanes won the game by holding Florida State to 36.2 percent shooting from the floor and five of 26 on three-point attempts. None of the Seminoles that played extended minutes shot 50 percent from the floor.
After struggling defensively in the three games before the victory over Louisville, Miami got their defensive groove back against Louisville. The Cardinals shot 41.5 percent and shot five of 22 from the floor.
Bruce Brown, Huell and Chris Lykes carried Miami offensively in the first game against the Seminoles. Brown had a season-high 23 points, Huell had 20 and Lykes a career-high 18 off the bench. Four Seminoles scored in double figures in the loss.
Florida State is incredibly balanced offensively this season. Eight Seminoles average at least six points per game and seven average over eight points per game. That makes them tough to game plan for.
Florida State is a very good shooting team. They shoot 47.4 percent from the floor, 57th in the country. The Seminoles also take and make a lot of threes. They are second in the ACC in attempts, fourth in makes and ninth in three-point field goal percentage. The Hurricanes are going to have to defend the three well again.
"GAME 20 • JAN. 27, 2018 • 4 P.M. ET • TALLAHASSEE, FLA.NR/24 MIAMI HURRICANES (15-4, 4-3 ACC)Head Coach: Jim Larrañaga (Providence, 1971 [B.A.])Record at UM: 154-73 (7th season), Career Record: 624-407 (34th season)GAME 20 • JAN. 27, 2018 • 4 P.M. ET • TALLAHASSEE, FLA.FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES (15-5, 4-4 ACC)Head Coach: Leonard Hamilton (Tennessee-Martin, 1971)Record at FSU: 297-201 (16th season), Career Record: 497-411 (30th season)"
Next: After two key games Miami Hurricanes 4 straight vs unranked teams
Next game: Wed, Jan 31, 2018 , :00 pm/est. vs Pittsburgh. The game against the Panthers is the second of back to back return games. Miami won their ACC opener in the Steel City on December 30.