FSU Basketball looks to sharpen perimeter shooting vs. South Carolina

A weeklong break for final exams might have come at the perfect time for the Florida State men's basketball team.

When the Seminoles lost Saturday at home to Syracuse, it marked the first time since 2014 that they dropped back-to-back games before January.

On Sunday, they will look to rebound from a poor shooting effort in that loss and get back on track against South Carolina in the No Room for Racism Classic (Noon ET, ESPN2).

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When FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton spoke to the media on Thursday, he said his team is still in a learning mode. With so many new faces being counted on, he said, it's “only natural” for them to not be as familiar with the finer details on offense and defense, which have been so integral to FSU's success in recent years.

The ’Noles will be tested again Sunday versus the Gamecocks, who are 6-2 on the season and fresh off a double-digit win against Georgetown.

“It gives us as a team another opportunity to play against a team that’s hard-nosed, tough, and aggressive and physical," Hamilton said. "With a team we have this year that is growing, a lot of moving parts and adjustments the players are making individually, we are still in the midst of a lot of evaluating and learning. We think this is a great opportunity for us to learn who we are and what we’re doing, and trying to improve.”

In last weekend's 63-60 loss to Syracuse, FSU had its 25-game ACC home win streak snapped by the Orange. The Seminoles nearly pulled off a late comeback, but awful shooting numbers plagued them throughout the game; they shot 34 percent from the field and 4-of-30 from 3-point range.

“It’s obvious we have not been as consistent through the course of the year,” Hamilton said. “For instance, I thought at the beginning of the year we could be as good of a perimeter-shooting team as any team that we’ve had since we’ve been here. But that’s been kind of a moving target.”

Sharpshooting seniors Anthony Polite and Wyatt Wilkes have been particularly cold early this season.

Wilkes has knocked down just 5 of 21 3-pointers for a 23.8-percent average. Polite has shot 25.8 percent (8-for-31) from 3 thus far -- a drastic drop from his impressive 43.6 mark (4th in the ACC) from beyond the arc last year.

Hamilton pointed out that part of the solution rests on the shoulders of teammates around them, and how well they’re creating opportunities with ball movement and penetration.

“It all works together … part of he (Polite) and Wyatt’s shooting issues are the respect that people have for them,” Hamilton said. “When those guys go in the game, teams are doing a very good job of staying on their strong hands, being on the catch and close out the space, not giving those guys uncontested shots.”

One player who hasn’t been in a shooting slump is Houston transfer Caleb Mills, who Hamilton said is, “making a tremendous effort to be a great teammate.”

Mills was the outlier against Syracuse; he scored 16 points on 7 of 13 shots. The redshirt sophomore is heating up as of late, having scored an efficient 22 points at Purdue and going for 17 the game before that.

“He scores at all three levels. He’s a good defender. I have been especially pleased with his energy on the defensive end,” Hamilton said. “He can finish at the rim. He’s a little more experienced than some of our other first-year players, and he has a great basketball IQ and tremendous feel for the game. … I think as we grow as a team and become a little more cohesive, you’ll even see him play much better.”

FSU already bounced back strong from a loss once this season, going from the rivalry loss at Florida to winning two games at the Jacksonville Classic by a combined 51 points.

The 'Noles will look to do the same thing this time, also on a pseudo-neutral court in Rock Hill, S.C., on Sunday.

“These scenarios, hopefully we’ll benefit from having to make these adjustments early in the season, learn a little bit more, being challenged a little bit,” Hamilton said. “Maybe not playing as consistent will force us to heighten our level of focus and come closer together as a team. Hopefully these games coming up here will give us a chance to grow.”

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