It's been an odd start to conference play this season.
The Florida State Seminoles (11-2, 1-1 in the ACC) opened the year at Pitt, took four weeks off to play non-conference games, hosted Clemson in early December, then took another three weeks off for non-conference games, finals and holiday breaks, and now return back to the ACC schedule against Georgia Tech.
At home. On New Year's Eve. At noon.
With the 20-game conference schedule this season, oddities like this are common for every team in the country. Still, it's a bit odd to being playing the third ACC game of the season before New Year's Day.
"The intensity of an ACC game is crazy," sophomore guard Devin Vassell said. "Of course, in the Tuck it's crazy. It's a different atmosphere and intensity. It's a different focus that you have to have."
Georgia Tech is 6-6 on the season, but has shown positive signs lately. They won two of three games out in their Hawaii tournament — the lone loss was an 11-point defeat to Houston. The Yellow Jackets have also lost to Georgia, Syracuse, Kentucky, Ball State and Arkansas on a last-second, banked-in 3-pointer.
They also won at N.C. State to start the season.
Michael Devoe leads Georgia Tech in scoring at 17.8 points per game. Transfer Jordan Usher missed the first eight games of the season and is averaging right at 10 points. Veteran point guard Jose Alvarado returned recently after missing a month at the start of the season and is leading the team in assists per game and steals per game.
And FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said Georgia Tech’s Moses Wright "has to be the most improved player in the league.”
Center James Banks currently leads the ACC in blocked shots.
"They are at the strongest they have been all year long," Hamilton said. "It makes them a different team than they were at the beginning of the year. So we know they are going to be at their best. And this is an important game for them. It's a road game. And it's a home game for us. We all understand in our league you want to try to win as many home games as you can."
Last year, the Seminoles swept the Yellow Jackets.
The first meeting was a down-to-the-wire slugfest, in which the Seminoles didn't end up putting the game away until the final minute.
The second one, in Atlanta, was a rout where the Seminoles' walk-ons were playing in the final minute.
Hamilton knows with the way Georgia Tech defends, and the improvements they've made with a full roster, that nothing can be taken for granted against the Yellow Jackets.
"What makes them a little more unique is their unique match-up zone defense," he said. "It gives them a different scheme that you have to prepare for, that is different than everybody else. It has unique characteristics that you have to understand what it's about, and if you don't, if you don't handle it correctly it could be a challenge.
"Last year here was a root canal."
NOTES: Florida State is 40-10 in its last 50 games. ... Senior center Dominic Olejniczak, who missed Saturday's game with an illness, was at practice on Monday afternoon and is expected to be available against the Yellow Jackets.
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