Florida State at Virginia Basketball Preview
In their home finale, the Virginia Cavaliers host the Florida State Seminoles Tuesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:00 PM Eastern, televised on ACC Network.
The two teams enter tied for 10th place in the ACC standings with matching 7-11 records, as they battle for conference tournament seeding in this final week of the regular season.
About Florida State
The Seminoles are led by head coach Leonard Hamilton in his 23rd year there. It was recently announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season. With an overall record of 459-294 during his time in Tallahassee, Hamilton is considered the most successful coach in program history. He’s guided the Seminoles to four Sweet 16s and one Elite 8, and is a three-time ACC Coach of the Year.
FSU enters with a 16-13 overall record, 7-11 in ACC play. It’s a talented but young team, loaded with former highly rated recruits. They’ve lost eight of their last 11 games. Duke manhandled them last out in Durham. The NCAA’s NET rankings slot them at 90th, a dozen spots ahead of UVA. Adjusted efficiency ratings show them to be a little better on defense than offense.
Florida State’s Personnel
In typical Hamilton fashion, the Seminoles rotate in lots of players. He’ll normally go 11 deep. They’re a very young team, with seven underclassmen in the rotation. Hamilton went with the following starters in their last game.
G - Daquan Davis (6’1” Freshman, 8.8 points and 2.6 assists per game)
G - Chandler Jackson (6’5” Junior, 6.9 points and 2.1 assists per game)
G - Jamir Watkins (6’7” Senior, 18.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game)
F - Taylor Bol Bowen (6’10” Sophomore, 8.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game)
F - Alier Maluk (7’0” Freshman, 2.6 points per game)
Usual starting forward Malique Ewin (14.0 PPG) missed their last game with injury. And sophomore forward Jerry Deng (7.0 PPG) is becoming more of a factor of late, shooting 38% from three-point range.
Clash of Styles
Florida State is always a tough opponent for Virginia. They play aggressively on defense, and usually do a good job of disrupting UVA’s blocker-mover motion offense. It’ll be important for UVA to play with poise, limit turnovers. And they’ll need to make some individual plays, as that’s what FSU forces them to do.
As always, FSU has a big athletic group. It won’t be easy to finish around the rim. They’re one of the top shot-blocking teams in the country. UVA needs to keep them out of transition, as they’ll look to run at every opportunity. They’re an attacking team in the halfcourt as well, looking to get in the paint and draw lots of fouls. Their three-point rate is low, but they do shoot an okay 32%.
Up Next
Just one more game to go after this one, the regular season finale at Syracuse on Saturday night. Then the ACC Tournament gets underway next Tuesday in Charlotte.
Be sure to tune in for the pregame show, starting 30 minutes before tipoff. Available on the Locker Room Access Facebook page and YouTube channel.
(Featured Image Credit: Josie Drumheller/UVA Athletics)