FSU seeks quicker start at Miami

Quite a few things have stood out during Florida State's two-game ACC losing streak to begin conference play.

There are certain statistical trends. And then there's what Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton has observed.

"I think we are a team that is young, immature and still growing," Hamilton said after his team's 106-90 loss to North Carolina on Monday. "We have our moments when we've been outstanding. We've had our moments when we have a lot of youth and inexperience.

"There are times I look up and we have four freshmen on the floor."

Another common thread in the two conference losses was that both Clemson and North Carolina were able to open early leads and then play from ahead. The largest lead FSU had against Clemson was two points and against UNC it was one.

"You can't start off with a [Top 6] team in the country so slow," said Seminoles freshman guard Dwayne Bacon. "You see what happened. We got down 10 real quick. We've gotta come out on fire."

Those slow starts actually have been a problem for much of the season, and Hamilton said he and his coaching staff are implementing some measures they believe will help. Instead of letting the players have freedom to play in a free-flowing offense, they're looking at running more designed plays to force the action - at least in the opening stages.

"The last two ACC games were kind of more of the same," Hamilton said. "So we've talked as a staff about maybe being more scripted as to what we're doing early in games. We think that maybe might help us a little better."

The Seminoles continue their tough stretch of conference games at 5 p.m. Saturday against No. 12 Miami (12-1, 1-0 ACC) at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables.

Miami is on a seven-game winning streak, and the Hurricanes have wins over then-ranked No. 16 Utah and No. 22 Butler. They are led by senior guard Sheldon McClellan, who is averaging 15.9 points per game.

McClellan, who is converting 41 percent of his 3-pointers, might be the next guard to challenge the Seminoles.

Although FSU beat Florida 73-71 on Dec. 29, the Seminoles gave up 32 points to the Gators' Keyvaughn Allen. Clemson's Jordan Roper hit 7 of 10 shots from beyond the arc to score 23 points against the 'Noles. And North Carolina's Marcus Paige scored 30 points; he was 10 of 21 from the floor and 5 of 9 on 3-pointers.

"We've just gotta stay ready. We're going to stay ready," said Bacon, who is averaging a team-high 17.2 points. "We played very good. We gave a lot of energy. It's just rebounds, points in the paint ... I mean, yeah, the game's over with and we're a little down about the game because we know we could have had a chance to win the game.

"But we've got Miami on the 9th, and we've just gotta get prepared for that."