FSU looks to start new streak against Miami

Less than 48 hours after a disappointing 64-60 loss on the road to a lowly Boston College team, it's safe to say that No. 15 Florida State is still very irked by its performance on Wednesday night.

FSU turned the ball over 14 times and shot just 39.6 percent from the floor as its seven-game winning streak was snapped against the 8-16 Eagles. FSU will try to get back on track at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday as the streaking Miami Hurricanes come to Tallahassee.

Junior guard Michael Snaer, who led the team in scoring with 16 points despite shooting just 6 of 18 from the floor, said the Seminoles didn't have the focus needed to win a road Atlantic Coast Conference game.

"We didn't do a good job making sure we cut hard and we kind of just thought it was just going to happen," Snaer said. "That's something you can't do against an ACC team. We should have already knew that, we're a veteran team we should have already known that.

"It's one game, hopefully we can go and finish the season and the rest of conference play as strong as we did the first eight games."

Despite the loss, FSU (16-7, 7-2) remains atop the ACC standings in a three-way tie with No. 5 North Carolina and No. 10 Duke. FSU currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over both teams, which may be why Leonard Hamilton isn't ready to panic after the loss.

"For whatever reason, the nature of the game, you're going to have one or two of those games where things just don't seem to be quite like you'd like for them to be," Hamilton said. "We always seem to have one, and not to discredit Boston College, we had one (Wednesday) night.

"We're not going to say (anything) different prior to what we've been saying prior to the Boston College game. We pointed out the shortcomings that we endured during that game, we faced the facts and hopefully we'll come back and play up to our potential."

FSU will try to get back on the tracks against a Miami team that has won five games in a row including road wins at Georgia Tech, BC and Duke.

"They've simplified their system and they're executing very well," Hamilton said of UM. "They're getting the ball to people in positions where they can take advantage of their talents."

Center Reggie Johnson creates a unique challenge for defenses because of his size. The 6-foot-10, 284-pounder not only takes up a lot space in the lane but also has great vision when he kicks it back outside.

"He's one of those guys kind of like Shaq," Hamilton said. "He's so massive that when he moves, whatever is close to him has to move too. The slightest bump by him knocks you a couple of feet … he has such great hands, he has such great vision, he doesn't ever seem to panic when he's in situations and he's finding people and I think he's one of the best passers on the team."

Miami usually employs a guard-heavy lineup that plays to an inside-out style of basketball. FSU really struggled with that against BC as the Eagles knocked down 10 three-point shots including eight in the first half.

Against the Hurricanes, the 'Noles know they must limit Miami's penetration on the defensive end of the floor.

"We've just got to stop their penetration period," Okaro White said. "If we do that we stop a lot of their offense. Just the stopping the penetration is going to be key and just having an all-out team defensive effort."

After a disheartening loss to BC on Wednesday, FSU hopes that by stopping Mimai's streak on Saturday they can create another streak of their own.

"We can either go downhill or up from now," senior guard Deividas Dulkys said. "It's just, I think we need to keep grinding up and forget about this loss to BC and just get back into a winning rhythm."