Since the start of December, Miami has been the most unstoppable force in the Atlantic Coast Conference with wins in 10 of its last 11 games.
The only team to defeat the Hurricanes in that span was Florida State, who earned a last-second 65-64 victory on Jan. 11 in Tallahassee. It was the Seminoles’ eighth straight win in the rivalry.
On Saturday afternoon, Miami (14-4, 6-1 ACC) gets a rematch on its home court against Florida State (12-5, 5-2).
“They are the longest, tallest and most athletic team in our league,” Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga said of FSU. “It’s a very hard matchup for us.”
These are the top two teams in the ACC, with both squads earning respect along the way. The Seminoles knocked out No. 6 Duke, 79-78, in overtime on Tuesday, while the Hurricanes are coming off an 85-57 rout of North Carolina on Tuesday.
“For the first time I can remember, the Florida schools are one-two in the ACC,” Larranaga said. “It doesn’t mean we’ll end the season that way, but we would love our fans to turn out on Saturday.”
Florida State is coming off an unimpressive 86-73 win over North Florida on Thursday.
“I was hoping we would not be trying to look past North Florida to focus on the University of Miami,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “But four games in eight days sometimes will take you that same way.”
The Seminoles are led in scoring by Caleb Mills, who averages 13.8 points per-game. Malik Osborne leads the team in rebounds with 7.2 boards per-game, along with 10.9 points. Their other double-digit scorer is true freshman Matthew Cleveland (11.2), who scored a team-high 15 points in the win against Miami.
Hurricanes guard Charlie Moore led all scorers in that game with 20 points.
Miami’s top two scorers on the season are Kameron McGusty (18.1) and Isaiah Wong (16.4). McGusty is fifth in the ACC in scoring and Wong is eighth.
On paper, Miami’s biggest disadvantage against Florida State is a lack of size up front. The Hurricanes have been outrebounded by all nine Power 5 schools it has played this season, although they are 7-2 in those games.
–Field Level Media
