The Florida State men's basketball team will be looking to start a new streak tonight when it takes on Gardner-Webb at the Tucker Center. The Seminoles lost to Central Florida by 12 points on Saturday night, ending a 27-game winning streak at home and a 41-game winning streak at home against non-conference opponents.

But those kinds of things happen when you allow a team to go on a 13-0 run in the first half and then have another stretch in the second half in which the opponent makes seven straight field goal attempts.

This will be the sixth straight home game for the Seminoles to start the 2020-2021 season. Gardner-Webb was actually supposed to be the season-opening opponent for FSU this year, but a positive COVID-19 test in the Runnin' Bulldogs program postponed the game until now.

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Monday, Dec. 19, 7 p.m., Tucker Center (2,600), Tallahassee

Gardner-Webb is 1-3 on the season but is coming off its first win of the year on Friday, an 88-77 victory over VMI. The Runnin' Bulldogs lost to Western Kentucky by two to start the year, to Pitt by 17 and then to East Tennessee State by five points before breaking into the win column.

Florida State, meanwhile, will be looking to rebound from its worst home loss since a 106-90 defeat to North Carolina on Jan. 4, 2016. The Seminoles have still had a solid start to the season, with four wins in their first five games, including important victories over Indiana, Florida and ACC foe Georgia Tech. But Leonard Hamilton's team wants to put together a solid 40 minutes tonight before ACC play resumes on Dec. 29 at Clemson.

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Last meeting: FSU 78, Gardner-Webb 53, Nov. 15, 2010

All-time series: Florida State leads 1-0

TV: Fox Sports South | Radio: Seminole Radio Network

Head Coaches: Leonard Hamilton (Florida State), Tim Craft (Gardner-Webb)

What to Watch For: Leonard Hamilton was frank about where his team is after the loss to UCF on Saturday night. He said the 'Noles were a poor rebounding team and hadn't displayed any shot-blocking ability at the rim. While he praised the Knights for their offensive performance, he said the biggest problem was his team's inability to contain the dribble, which led to point-blank layups and kickouts for wide-open 3-pointers -- and the Knights weren't missing many of those.

Balsa Koprivica struggled against the smaller UCF lineup, and Hamilton and his staff might decide to go smaller against Gardner-Webb. Hamilton will also be looking to find more punch off the bench. M.J. Walker, Anthony Polite and RaiQuan Gray combined for 50 points on Saturday night, but the FSU bench managed just 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the floor.

Freshman point guard Scottie Barnes also failed to make much of an impact at all, scoring just eight points total, and just five until the game's final minute (when the outcome was decided). With Barnes and his teammates coming off their first loss of the season, it will be interesting to see how they respond tonight against a Gardner-Webb team that could easily be overlooked.

The Runnin' Bulldogs average right at 25 3-point attempts per game and are hitting on 40 percent of their attempts so far this season.

Opening Line: Florida State minus-20

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