No. 9 Seminoles put it in cruise control, roll to 88-71 win at Miami

It wasn't expected to be much of a battle, and it lived up to the billing.

The No. 9 Florida State men's basketball team, which has been one of the hottest teams in the country, led by more than 20 points for much of the night and defeated the struggling Miami Hurricanes on Wednesday night in Coral Gables, 88-71.

FSU was led by Sardaar Calhoun with a career-high 16 points, Balsa Koprivica with 13 points, and 12 apiece from RaiQuan Gray and Anthony Polite. Gray also grabbed 13 rebounds, and Koprivica finished with eight.

The Seminoles improved to 14-3 overall and 10-2 in the ACC, while the Hurricanes fell to 7-14 and 3-13.

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Box Score: No. 9 FSU 88, Miami 71

While the final margin was somewhat respectable, Florida State likely could have named its score. The Seminoles raced out to a 19-point lead midway through the first half and took a 49-28 advantage into halftime.

"In the first half, I liked what I saw," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We had a lot of deflections. We created some offense with our defense. ... I thought in the second half, we let up a little bit."

The Hurricanes, whose roster has been decimated by injuries, lost for the eighth time in nine games. The Seminoles recorded their ninth win in the last 10 games.

It would have been much more lopsided if not for a huge night from Miami guard Isaiah Wong. The 6-3 sophomore scored a game-high 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting (4-of-5 from 3-point range).

"We had a hard time guarding Wong," Hamilton said. "He's an unbelievable one-on-one player."

Florida State was a little short-handed on this night as well, as senior guard M.J. Walker and senior center Tanor Ngom both sat out with minor injuries. Forward Malik Osborne also left the game after just nine minutes after sustaining an ankle injury.

But it didn't matter, as the Seminoles enjoyed a 57-5 advantage in bench scoring to win their seventh straight game against the Hurricanes.

"We win games by committee," Hamilton said. "We've said that all along. The strength of our team is in the quality of our depth. We were without two of our top seven players, and our leading scorer, and the other guys stepped up and filled in the roles. That's who we are."

With Walker sidelined, FSU got a great effort from backup shooting guard Calhoun, who scored 12 points in the first half. Calhoun, whose previous career high was 15 points against Clemson, scored his 16 points in just 24 minutes.

He connected on 7 of 9 shots from the floor (2 of 4 from long range), and he also delivered three assists, grabbed three rebounds and recorded two steals.

"With M.J. being out, we had to be more together because he's like our leader out there," Calhoun said. "He talked to me before the game. He said let the game come to [me], and he was going to talk me through the game, which he did. I played good, and we got the 'W.'"

With Virginia losing earlier Wednesday night to N.C. State, the Seminoles extended their slight lead in the ACC standings. The Seminoles, at 10-2, have an .833 win percentage in conference play; Virginia is 11-4 with a .733 win percentage.

With three games remaining, FSU is in position to win a second consecutive regular-season ACC crown and claim the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.

The Seminoles will return to action Saturday at North Carolina.

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