FSU basketball (13-6, 4-4 ACC) lost its last meeting against a bad California team and will stay on the West Coast to face the Stanford Cardinals (13-6, 5-3 ACC) on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
The Cardinals destroyed the Miami Hurricanes in their last outing after coming from behind to beat the North Carolina Tarheels previous weekend. They avoided a prime letdown spot in that game, but FSU could produce another trap game situation.
Stanford will be -4.5 betting favorites with an over/under 147.5 point total on FanDuel. Those odds imply a 76-71 win for the Cardinals. FSU has struggled to get teams with better than .500 records but beat Pittsburgh a week ago to give some hope about potentially making the NCAA Tournament.
The loss to California damaged those odds severely. The Cardinals don't beat themselves. They only average 10.2 turnovers per game and shoot 77.6 percent from the free-throw line. They also shoot 34 percent from the three-point line.
They also force turnovers, averaging 7.2 steals per game. Stanford isn't a deep team, with about four guys carrying much of the load. They can go about eight deep.
FSU must turn Stanford over with its defense and convert those opportunities into points. Jamir Watkins and Malique Ewin must avoid foul trouble to lead the way offensively. FSU can't afford to turn it over or allow Stanford second-chance opportunities on the boards.
They have to shoot it better from the three-point line, compared to how they shot against California. A win on Saturday night would be a nice rebound after the bad loss against California. The game will air on the ACC Network.