January 9, 2012

Paul Thomas
Warchant.com Staff Writer

Tomahawk Sports Bar & Grill
609 W. Tennessee Street
Title Sponsor of Insider Reports
Open 11am - 3am every day

It has been a rough stretch for the Florida State Men's basketball team as of late - the Seminoles (9-6, 0-1) have lost three of their last four games. The latest came against a struggling Clemson bunch on Saturday.

Perhaps the most alarming thing in Saturday's 79-59 loss at Clemson was that FSU was beaten down the court an number of times in transition and on hustle plays. Hustle with stifling defense are things that have allowed head coach Leonard Hamilton to elevate the program to new heights the past three seasons.

Hamilton said that the defensive mentality and toughness is what his team must improve upon before Tuesday's road tilt against Virginia Tech. (7 p.m. ET ESPNU)

"We've got to get back to playing that junkyard dog defense," he said. "Which requires a lot more effort and a consistent effort than what we've been exhibiting as of late."

During the last four games FSU's opponents haven't exactly been lighting things on fire on the offensive end, shooing a combined 42.2 percent from the floor (just above FSU's ACC-best of 36.6 percent allowed).

Still, senior transfer Jeff Peterson said that he thinks he and his teammates could kick it up a notch when it comes to hustle plays and going for loose balls.

"I'm not saying we're not, not playing hard, but maybe we need to play harder," he said. "Other teams are coming up with those balls and getting more rebounds as well and things like that. I don't think anybody on this team is dogging it, but I think we need to ramp it up a notch and see what happens."

Offensively has been where the Seminoles have truly struggled the past four games, shooting just 40.9 percent from the floor and turning it over an average of 16.75 times per game.

Certainly Hamilton knows his team has to execute better when it has the ball on offense, but he knows that if his team plays with more energy then it leads to good things on both ends of the floor.

"That's part of that mentality that you have to have," he said. "(Loose balls are) just one issue, it's the power-ups, it's the drawing the fouls, it's contesting shots, it's containing the dribble ? that's just one of the things that maybe (the media) picked up on but it's part of a whole lot of little things that happen positive to you when you're playing with that emotional effort."

Virginia Tech presents unique challenges

As Hamilton began to break down this season's Virginia Tech team down on film he quickly realized that this a different Hokies squad than in years' past.

The most unique thing about the Hokies, who are also smarting after a 58-55 defeat at lowly Wake Forest, is that they have the ability to drive to hoop from four different players on the court at once.

"They're more a dribble-drive, attack the basket off the dribble type of team than what they've been in the past," Hamilton said. "They've been very solid. They presents some challenges for us."

Hamilton said that 6-foot-7 forward Jarrell Eddie (9.7 points per game) and 6-foot-8 forward Dorian Finnley-Smith (7.1 points per game) will present the most unique challenges.

"They're so interchangeable," Hamilton said. "They're both quick, agile, basically small forward-type players playing the power forward and that presents some different types of challenges for our team."

Peterson said the fact that VT can penetrate the defense from four different position, just means that they will have to be more disciplined in their defensive assignments than they have been as of late if they're going to avoid an 0-2 ACC start.

"They can all pretty much handle the ball," Peterson said. "Put it on the floor and score so we're definitely going to have to be ready to guard. It will be a great game for us to get back to our defensive principles and execute on that end."

Miller off to hot start

One of the few bright spots for FSU during each of the last four games has been the play of sophomore guard Ian Miller.

The 6-foot-3 guard made his season debut against Florida on Dec. 22 after being held out the first semester of the season for academic reasons. During his four-game debut Miller is averaging 13.8 points per game.

"I feel like I'm getting back on the right foot," he said. "Just doing whatever my teammates and coaches need me to do to be successful."

Miller is shooting 39 percent from floor this season, but he has shown an ability to get open looks that FSU obviously was missing during his absence.

"Just knowing the scoring options in our offense," he said of what's working on offense. "Taking my time, using my teammates to get open and just helping the team and being able to get myself free and play my game."