FSU basketball: Will Noles find their ‘A’ game against Virginia?
By Kelvin Hunt
No. 17 FSU basketball (11-3, 7-2 ACC) will look to control its destiny against the No. 9 Virginia Cavaliers (15-3, 11-1 ACC).
FSU comes off an overtime victory against Wake Forest Saturday afternoon, with the Cavaliers rolling past North Carolina on the same day.
It’ll be a quick turnaround for both teams listed No. 1 and No. 2 in the ACC Conference standings. If the trend holds we should see a great performance from the Noles, who’ve made a habit of playing to their level of competition.
They rolled through the two ranked teams they’ve played on the year, with their three losses coming against mediocre competition. If it means anything, the two ranked teams FSU beat have not been in the top 25 rankings in the past two weeks.
The game is virtually a pick’em with an over/under total of 130, which means oddsmakers are expecting a 65-64 type game, according to the Action Network.
That low point total would favor a Virginia outcome since they slow the game down, but they are playing faster than they have in the past few years.
ESPN’s Basketball Power Index gives Virginia a 63.2 percent chance of winning the game.
This Virginia team is what you’d expect after correcting somethings earlier in the season. This team will work for high percentage shots, make free-throws and shoot it well from three-point land. The Cavaliers have three players that shoot it 43 percent or better from beyond-the-arc, and we saw how Georgia Tech lit the Noles up from there Saturday.
Virginia only averaged 9.8 turnovers per game, and they don’t foul much.
FSU basketball will need to play the opposite of how they’ve been playing since the Miami game. They can’t afford sloppy turnovers, missed free-throws, or any wasted offensive possessions because every point will count with limited offensive possessions.
One area the Noles will have the advantage is on the boards, where they average five fewer rebounds per game, and only 24 percent of their rebounds are on the offensive end. An amazing 46 percent of the rebounds for the Noles come on the offensive glass.
The Noles saw Anthony Polite return to action with a strong performance Saturday. Here’s to hoping Balsa Koprivica will be available Monday after turning his ankle in shootaround and missing the Wake Forest game.
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The game will air on ESPN at 7 p.m. from the Tucker Center, where the Noles have been nearly unbeatable the past few years.