Two weeks ago, the Florida State men's basketball team -- fresh off a one-point win over No. 6 Duke -- went to Coral Gables and knocked off the ACC-leading Miami Hurricanes by a point.

That put the Seminoles atop the Atlantic Coast Conference standings at 6-2 and had them very much on pace for yet another NCAA Tournament berth.

Things have gone downhill fast ever since.

Florida State is 0-3 since that win over Miami, and the Seminoles now sit at 13-8 overall and 6-5 in the conference.

*** Don't miss our exclusive FSU sports coverage. 30-day Free Trial ***

Senior forward Malik Osborne aggravated his ankle injury and was lost for the year. Starting guards RayQuan Evans and Caleb Mills missed significant time as well. And center Naheem McLeod, who was blossoming into an offensive force, is out for an extended period of time with a hand injury (he had surgery on Friday). As is senior guard Anthony Polite.

Florida State announced late Friday afternoon that Polite will be forced to miss "an undetermined amount of games" with a right wrist injury.

With Florida State in desperate need of a win Saturday against a rejuvenated Wake Forest team (18-5 overall, 8-4 in the ACC), the Seminoles will have to find a way to overcome a mountain of adversity.

"It's unfortunate," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said on Friday. "We've been void of these types of things over the years, but we all go through them. We'll make adjustments as we go through. Someone else, obviously, is going to have to step up.

"But you go through and you try to develop a system that fits who you are and the talent that you have and most of us at some point in time will have these types of things you have to deal with. This is our time."

*ALSO SEE: FSU legend George McCloud 'humbled, honored' to have jersey retired

After FSU's 75-69 loss at Clemson on Wednesday night, Hamilton said he expected McLeod to be out "six to eight weeks" with the injury. He amended that on Friday and said there isn't really a timetable for when they can get the 7-foot, 4-inch sophomore back.

"I don't know anything about how long it will be," Hamilton said.

Either way, without him or Osborne on Saturday against the Demon Deacons, someone will have to give the frontcourt a lift if the Seminoles are going to pick up that elusive seventh ACC win of the season.

Senior walk-on Harrison Prieto played a career-high 16 minutes on Wednesday night. Hamilton said he's certainly a possibility to be used more moving forward, as is redshirt freshman Cam'Ron Fletcher.

The Kentucky transfer has shown glimpses of his immense potential this year, but most games he's still spending the majority of his time on the bench. In the loss to Clemson, he played just seven minutes.

"We have a tremendous amount of confidence in Cam," Hamilton said. "He brings a lot of energy. He gives you tremendous effort. He's learning and adjusting to the fundamentals of our offensive and defensive systems."

Hamilton added: "Every time he goes into the game, he has an impact, gets a steal, a rebound, a put-back, a block."

No matter who is getting minutes for the Seminoles on Saturday, they'll have to play better defense than they've been playing in recent games.

During this three-game losing streak, FSU has given up 45 first-half points to Georgia Tech, allowed Virginia Tech to shoot a stunning 18-of-25 from 3-point range, and then gave up 44 more first-half points to Clemson.

The Tigers shot 60.7 percent from the floor in the first half.

And while the Seminoles played much better defense in the second 20 minutes, it still wasn't good enough to pick up the win. And that first half is still stuck in Hamilton's mind.

"It's almost unheard of for guys to shoot 60 percent in a half against the way we play defense," he said with a laugh. "But that's kind of who we are right now. ... Some of it is effort, some of it is maybe we have a shorter rotation now. Some of it is learning and being consistent with our defensive principles.

"I mean, we are still learning and growing in so many different areas. And in our league, if you have a two- or three-minute period where you falter, the way this league has gotten, you can dig a hole for yourself."

Right now, FSU is in that hole.

To dig out, and start climbing back to a possible NCAA Tournament berth, a win over Wake Forest is just about a necessity at this point.

----------------------------------------------------

Discuss this with fans on Warchant's Seminole Hoops message board