With Osborne lost for year, FSU looks to bounce back Saturday vs. Hokies

The Florida State men's basketball team suffered its worst loss of the season on Wednesday night in Atlanta with a 75-61 defeat to Georgia Tech.

Well, now it's the Seminoles' second worst loss.

FSU, which takes on Virginia Tech at the Tucker Center on Saturday afternoon, announced on Friday evening that senior forward Malik Osborne will miss the remainder of the season with a left ankle injury.

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Osborne, who was FSU's second-leading scorer and leading rebounder when he first started struggling with the injury earlier this month, has been less and less effective by the game.

He has averaged less than six points per game during that stretch and finished with just three points in 19 minutes in Wednesday's loss at Georgia Tech. He had a dunk in the first half against the Yellow Jackets, but clearly aggravated the injury when he landed.

Osborne hobbled back to the bench and didn't play again in the first half. He returned in the second half but clearly wasn't himself on either end of the court.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said earlier on Friday that Osborne was likely out for the game against the Hokies and might undergo season-ending surgery. The 6-foot, 9-inch senior finishes the year averaging 10.0 points and 6.9 rebounds.

The Seminoles (13-6, 6-3 in the ACC), meanwhile, look to bounce back from the 14-point defeat with a home game against the team at the bottom of the ACC standings.

Virginia Tech (10-10, 2-7) lost a heartbreaker on Wednesday night when Miami's Charlie Moore hit a half=court shot at the buzzer to give the Hurricanes a stunning three-point win.

Florida State can't afford another loss to a bottom-tier team in the conference. But not only will the Seminoles be playing without Osborne for the rest of the year, but Hamilton said there has been an outbreak of tonsillitis on the team.

Leading scorer Caleb Mills suffered through it on Wednesday night and barely played in the second half, and now multiple Seminoles have come down with it.

“I’ve never experienced this before; we have several kids on our team with tonsillitis," Hamilton said. "It goes through the team when you have a cold and sniffles and things of that nature, and that’s what we’re going through right now. ...

“Everybody is going to handle it differently. Some guys won’t be affected by it very much. What we’ll do is manage it the best we can. Our doctors will be on top of it. There’s not very much you can do about it. It’s one of those infections that will affect some guys more than others. The other night, Caleb just couldn’t go.

“Hopefully it will be out of our system, but who knows?”

The Seminoles will host the Hokies at 3 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast by ABC.

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