Florida State and Boston University both are riding high heading into Wednesday night’s matchup in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Seminoles (4-1) brushed aside Missouri for an 81-58 victory on Monday to win the Duval Bracket (major conferences) at the inaugural Jacksonville Classic. The Terriers (4-2) have won three in a row after winning the Jacksonville Bracket (mid-majors) in Jacksonville with a 72-59 victory over Sam Houston State.
“Any time you win a trophy it’s great,” Boston University coach Joe Jones said. “Hope it just kind of keeps building our confidence in what we’re doing and our confidence in each other.”
Florida State also crushed Loyola Marymount 73-45 on Sunday in the event opener.
“I thought our guys gave tremendous effort out of respect in knowing that we had to be at our very best (against Missouri) in order to come away with a victory,” Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said.
On Monday, the Seminoles never trailed and led by double digits most of the way after Malik Osborne’s layup with 11:31 left in the opening half made the score 20-10.
Osborne earned tournament Most Outstanding Player honors after finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds in the win over the Tigers. Osborne also scored 10 in Florida State’s tournament-opening victory against the Lions.
Anthony Polite had 14 points to lead the team against Missouri and Cam’Ron Fletcher added 12 off the bench. Seventeen players in all appeared in the game for the Seminoles, who will seek their third straight win on Wednesday.
On Monday, the Terriers topped Sam Houston State behind 14 points from Javante McCoy. Jonas Harper added 12 points as both he and McCoy went 4-for-6 from 3-point distance.
Jones said he knows Florida State will be a different kind of opponent.
“They’re a physical team. They deny every pass,” Jones said. “The pressure we felt (Monday) is going to be two times as touch. We have to have some answers.”
–Field Level Media
