The Florida State men's basketball team has won three games in a row. In the first two, the Seminoles shot better than 50 percent from 3-point range and pretty much cruised to wins over Clemson and Miami.
In the last one, a 40-minute slugfest with offensively challenged Georgia Tech on Saturday, FSU survived a woeful shooting performance to win 59-49.
If the 'Noles are going to make it four in a row, they will have to be much better against Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone defense than they were against the Yellow Jackets's matchup zone -- when they hit just 4 of 16 shots from 3-point range.
The Orange defenders are long, athletic, and have done a really good job -- for the most part -- of shutting down opponents' 3-point shooting.
"You have to knock down jump shots," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "That's been kind of a moving target for us. We all know you can't be good enough to shoot 50 percent or 45 percent (from 3) and then the next game shoot 15 percent. The same skill that you had when you're shooting 45 or 50 is the same skill when you're shooting a low percentage.
"Which means that a lot of it is mental and emotional."
In the last game, a lot of it was Georgia Tech, too.
As bad as the Yellow Jackets are on offense, they're that good on defense. Their unorthodox defensive scheme gives almost every opponent problems, and Florida State was no exception.
Still, the No. 22 Seminoles (16-5 overall, 4-4 in the ACC) made enough plays to win their third straight conference game and bump their league record up to .500.
Now they go on the road to the Carrier Dome to take on a Syracuse team that is 16-6 overall and 7-2 in the ACC. (Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET -- list of television channels.)
Tyus Battle, who scored 37 points last year in a 101-90, double-overtime loss to FSU, is the Orange's leading scorer at 17.5 points per game. Elijah Hughes averages 14.1 points per game, and Oshae Brissett averages 13.5 points and 7.4 rebounds.
"They are great one-on-one players," Hamilton said. "They take tough shots and they make tough shots. ... They are also unbelievably long.
"Their exceptional length gives them an advantage when they're in their zone defense."
If Florida State can penetrate and get into the middle of that zone, it should get some open looks against the Orange. But that's easier said than done.
And nothing of late, with the exception of the win at Miami, has been easy for the Seminoles when they go on the road.
Senior forward Terance Mann said the team played differently against the Hurricanes than it had in its three previous ACC road games.
"Definitely," he said. "We just changed our mindset. We worked on a few things that we can have down before (the game), and I think we understood that we can take it with us."
Said Hamilton: "I think the ingredients are here, but the fact that it's the beginning of February and we're talking about that mindset on the road -- maybe that says we haven't been consistent with the mindset.
"So obviously we're working on those areas. This game now gives us another opportunity to go on the road against a very good team and show that we can consistently play well on the road."
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