Chop Chat
Fansided

FSU basketball: Noles could be in driver’s seat with win over Virginia

By Kelvin Hunt

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT - MARCH 21: Head coach head coach Leonard Hamilton of the Florida State Seminoles signals from the bench as his team play against the Vermont Catamounts during the first round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at XL Center on March 21, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT - MARCH 21: Head coach head coach Leonard Hamilton of the Florida State Seminoles signals from the bench as his team play against the Vermont Catamounts during the first round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at XL Center on March 21, 2019 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

No. 9 FSU basketball has a huge match up against defending national champion Virginia. A win here could put the Noles in the driver’s seat in ACC.

FSU basketball (14-2, 4-1 ACC) has rattled off seven consecutive wins with the last four coming via double digits and covering the spread in the last three.

They are .5 game behind Duke and Louisville atop the ACC Conference. Of course, they have already throttled Louisville and will play Duke on the road in a couple of weeks.

A win against Virginia puts them in the driver’s seat in terms of winning the ACC Conference outright.

However, first they must take care of business against the defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers (11-4, 3-2 ACC) who are coming off back-to-back losses to Boston College and an overtime loss against Syracuse.

The Noles enter the game as six point favorites according to the Action Network:

The over/under at 113 suggest a low scoring game of something like 59-53 which of course will not be fun to watch as are most Virginia games. A win Wednesday night puts FSU basketball in a position to take care of business until they match up with Duke on February 10th.

It’s the ACC and anyone can win on any given night, just see Clemson beating Duke Tuesday night. If FSU does these three things they should be in good shape against Virginia:

Three Keys To Victory

  • Don’t waste possessions
  • Rebound
  • Take Good Shots

Listen, Virginia wants to play at a snail’s pace and every possession in this game will be important. FSU can’t afford to have careless turnovers.

The other thing is FSU must crash the boards offensively and defensively. This is an area they haven’t played the best and they can’t afford to give UVA any extra possessions to shorten the game.

Virginia is a really good defensive team, holding teams to 34.6 percent from the floor which is No. 1 in the country. The Noles have to make sure they take good shots, no ill-advised three pointers or struggling in a half-court setting with the shot clock running down.

Final Thoughts

I feel like I keep waiting for this team to lay an egg as they have done in past years, but they’ve proven me wrong thus far.

3 Things Noles Need To Be Elite Again. dark. Next

FSU basketball plays really well at home and should take care of business against a limited Virginia team.

Home/FSU Basketball