After each team had a week away from game action, Florida State and South Florida will look to snap losing streaks as they face off Saturday in Sunrise, Fla., in the Orange Bowl Classic.
The Seminoles (4-3) dropped back-to-back games after letting a 17-point lead slip away at home against Georgia and losing on the road at North Carolina. The Bulls (2-4) have dropped three in a row, losing to Maine at home and Hofstra and UMass on the road.
FSU leads the all-time series 22-12.
Things got worse for the Seminoles this week when it was learned that Cam’Ron Fletcher will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Fletcher suffered a torn ACL in the same knee last season when Florida State dealt with multiple injuries to key players throughout a dismal 9-23 season.
The question for the Seminoles becomes who can replace Fletcher and provide that spark off the bench. Chandler Jackson could be one of those candidates as he is shooting 36.4 percent from 3-point range. He averages 15.9 minutes and 4.9 points per game.
“It was really good for me to get the experiences I did last season as a freshman,” Jackson told Seminoles.com. “I was able to get used to our system and how everything works within our program.”
South Florida’s strength this season — similar to Florida State’s great teams in recent years — has been its bench players, who are collectively averaging 34.2 points per game (13th in NCAA).
Selton Miguel is averaging a team-leading 12.7 points per game and scored 16 points in the loss at UMass. Miguel became the first Bulls player to lead the team in points, rebounds and assists in a game this season.
“These guys are learning to be good players and learning to be players that can be counted on,” South Florida coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said recently. “When you can be a player that’s counted on, you know every day what you’re getting from that person. We’ve still got a lot of players that are learning to be those players.”
–Field Level Media
