Florida State men's basketball still seeking first ACC win
Florida State and North Carolina State each have wins. They have 10 victories apiece. None of them, however, have come in ACC play.
At least not yet anyway. The Seminoles (10-5, 0-3 ACC) and Wolfpack (10-6, 0-3) are two of the ACC's four teams without a conference win. One of them will get the much-desired first conference victory when they play at 9 p.m. Wednesday at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.
"I think what you have to become accustomed to is that in the ACC, there's a lot of that going on," Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said Tuesday. "Because from top to bottom, you have a lot of clawing and scratching and scratching and clawing. It's the nature ... this is a different ACC race."
Hamilton referenced how Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech were able to stun conference power Virginia last week. And how Clemson has catapulted to a 3-1 start in the league.
FSU is still waiting for it's breakthrough moment to come.
A number of issues have plagued the Seminoles. They never held the lead in their loss to Miami, and the Seminoles have held the lead for about four minutes in their three conference games combined.
Hamilton said the team's plan to avoid a slow start fell apart against the Hurricanes.
"We didn't execute against Miami nearly as well," Hamilton said. "We had 22 point-blank layups that we missed. As a coach, you come out, want to execute our offense, get high-percentage shots. Well, we had 22 high-percentage shots we didn't finish off."
As for the defense, he said the Seminoles are "still a work in progress."
FSU's perimeter defense is likely to be tested again by Wolfpack junior point guard Anthony Barber. He's the conference's leading scorer and averages 22.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. Barber is also averaging close to 39 minutes a contest.
Seminoles senior guard Devon Bookert said Barber has stepped up his game after deferring to older teammates last season.
"I think last year he had some upperclassmen that ... he had to look for and run the offense," Bookert said. "Now, he's been given the freedom to be more aggressive and that's given him more confidence."
Bookert said he expects an intense game from the Wolfpack.
"I think both teams are hungry and they just want to get the first win in the win column," said Bookert, who is averaging 8.5 points, 2.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds.
Against N.C. State, the Seminoles will have to be aware of Barber and BeeJay Anya, the 6-foot-9 power forward who leads the ACC with 2.9 blocks per game.
Containing Barber and keeping track of Anya is only part of what the Seminoles will contend with against the Wolfpack.
FSU is still adjusting to playing with a depleted frontcourt. The Seminoles lost 6-8 sophomore forward Phil Cofer for the season with a foot injury, and senior center Michael Ojo remains out with a knee ailment.
"It just makes every little detail a little more important," said senior Montay Brandon, who at 6-8 and 225 pounds has had to leave his usual guard role to play more forward. "It's just boxing out, containing the ball, containing the ball handler ... things like that are way more important now because you don't have that size on the back line to make up for mistakes."
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