Florida State men’s basketball (8-11, 1-5) caps off its two-game road trip against SMU (14-5, 3-3) in the Noles’ first-ever game at Moody Coliseum.
Luke Loucks’ team is coming off its best win of the season, and most important victory for FSU men’s hoops in quite some time after upsetting Miami on Tuesday night in Coral Gables. Robert McCray V dropped 20 points, including two free throws, with the game tied at 1.7 seconds left to secure the win. But the main story was the grit and intensity the Noles played with on the defensive end and without the ball. Early on in the season, Loucks lamented his team’s energy, but after multiple games of switching starting lineups and taking away playing time, the Seminoles’ are playing a tough, hard-working brand of basketball and it was rewarded in the win over Miami.
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However, it will not be easy for Florida State to pick up two-straight road wins. The Mustangs are 11-1 at home and have wins over UNC and Texas A&M this season. SMU is a seven seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology.
How to watch:
Florida State tips off at 4 PM ET on ACC Network.
Notes to know:
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Today’s matchup will be a homecoming of sorts with Loucks matching up against his former coach, Andy Enfield. Enfield overlapped with FSU’s head man as part of his five-year run working as an assistant under Leonard Hamilton from 2006-07 to 2010-2011. A season ago, Enfield coached against Hamilton in his final game in Tallahassee, a Florida State win.
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Unfortunately, the Seminoles are already at the point of the season where the only way they can impact the NCAA Tournament is as a spoiler. Florida State did that the other day, handing Miami its first quad-3 loss of the season, dropping the Hurricanes’ projected seed to the 10-line according to Lunardi. Today is a quad-1 opportunity for FSU, but only a quad-3 chance for SMU.
Players to know:
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G Boopie Miller: In his final season of eligibility, Miller is putting the SMU team on his back and has the Mustangs on the inside track to the NCAA Tournament. The fifth-year senior leads the team in scoring with 19.8 points per game, meaning that he will average over double-digit scoring in every season of his collegiate career. Although not the biggest guy in the world and listed at 6’0”, Miller is averaging a career high in three-point shooting at 39% and 6.8 assists per night.
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G B.J. Edwards: Edwards, a senior, is having the best year of his career, averaging 13.9 points on SMU, third most on the team. Not only can the senior score the ball, but he is averaging more than five rebounds and assists per night. Edwards is in his third season in Dallas after beginning his career at Tennessee and completes the dominant SMU backcourt.
