From zero to 1,000: Bacon responds in win over Boston College

On Saturday, Dwayne Bacon had no points. On Monday, the sophomore swingman surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career.

College basketball can be funny like that.

Bacon's 16 points in the No. 19 Florida State men's basketball team's 104-72 win over Boston College comes at a peculiar point in the season. FSU (22-6, 10-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) opened the month with three straight victories and won by an average of 30 points. The Seminoles even picked up an elusive road win.

Lately, the narrative has changed. Entering Monday, FSU had lost its last two games by an average margin of 13 points. Both games were on the road against teams below the 'Noles in the conference standings. Again, college basketball.

The same can be said for Bacon. He opened the month averaging 21 points in FSU's three wins. Then he scored 12 points in the loss at Notre Dame and zero at Pitt.

"I don't want to make a whole lot out of that because every sport, whether it's football, basketball, baseball or hockey or table tennis, you're going to have one those days," Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said of Bacon's game at Pitt. "You just move on from it and you don't dwell on it.

"He's scored 1,000 points as a sophomore, so he knows what he's doing on the court."

Bacon was 0-for-4 from the floor against Pitt. It was the first time in his FSU career he failed to record a point and only the seventh time he's failed to register at least 10 shot attempts. FSU is 4-3 in those games.

Bacon bounced back Monday. While he connected on only 6 of 15 shots from the field, he was a stellar 4 of 7 from the 3-point line. He also grabbed five rebounds, delivered a highlight-reel dunk and had four assists in 26 minutes.

His 1,000th career point came in the second half. He hit an off-balance jumper from about 16 feet out to become the 46th player in school history to reach the milestone.

"He's such a good player who had a bad night [against Pitt]," Eagles coach Jim Christian said of Bacon. "You knew he'd get more opportunities and be more aggressive. A guy like that, you let him get going early ... he gets going."