Florida State @ Miami preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 27, 2019 ) Florida State 78, Miami-Florida 66

With its 54-50 triumph over Virginia on Wednesday, No. 9 Florida State extended its winning streak to eight and moved the Seminoles into a three-way tie (5-1) with Duke and Louisville atop the ACC standings. Next up for the surging Seminoles is a rivalry matchup Saturday at a struggling Miami team that has opened 2020 with three losses in four games after falling to North Carolina State, 80-63, in its last outing.

"We couldn't stop them," Miami coach Jim Larranaga told reporters after the Wolfpack loss. "We're not a very good defensive team, haven't been all year long. When the big guys get in foul trouble, we've got no resistance at the rim." Like last season, the Hurricanes are shorthanded, going with just two bench players the last two games after injuries to Keith Stone and Deng Gak have left Sam Waardenburg and Rodney Miller as the only two big-man options. In contrast, Florida State has been able to stay fresh with a longer rotation and 10 players received valuable playing time in its most recent win against Virginia although more than half of the team's scoring came from Devin Vassell (18 points) and surprising reserve Anthony Polite (14), both of whom recorded career scoring totals. "The good thing about (Polite's) teammates is that they all have a lot of confidence in him," Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We went to an all guard lineup there basically toward the end of the game because we felt that they were bottling us up so much inside that we needed to have our best shooters on the floor. He came through for us.”

TIME: 1 p.m. ET. TV: ACC Network

ABOUT FLORIDA STATE (15-2, 5-1 ACC): While Vassell and Polite came up big offensively against the always-stingy Virginia defense, the team's second-leading scorer, Trent Forrest (11.8 per game), struggled from the floor with just five points on 1-of-6 shooting but he still showed his all-around game with seven assists, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks. The Seminoles wound up with 10 steals against the Cavaliers to remain the ACC's best in that department (9.5 per game), but the team shot just 37 percent from the field - its third-lowest showing of the season - and 36.4 percent from deep (8-of-22), with the Cavaliers outscoring the Seminoles 30-14 in the paint. “Some people will say this was not a very pretty game,” Hamilton said afterward. “It’s beautiful to me.”

ABOUT MIAMI (10-6, 2-4): Lack of depth figures to be an issue all season, putting a damper on the inside game, but Miller did come through with a career performance in the loss to NC State, producing highs in points (16), field goals made (6-of-8) and free throws made (4-of-5). Miller was one of three Hurricanes to score in double figures, joining two of the team's most prolific scorers Chris Lykes (20 points) and Dejan Vasiljevic (16), who missed his first free throw of the season after making 33 in a row dating back to last season, including his first 28 of this year. Like Forrest for the Seminoles, Miami's second-leading scorer also had an off night shooting the ball last time out with guard Kameron McGusty (14.4 ppg) scoring just two points on 1-of-9 shooting to halt his eight-game streak of double-digit scoring, but he led the way with eight of the team's 40 rebounds.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Seminoles have won the last three meetings against the Hurricanes, including a 78-66 victory in the last battle, which was also played in Miami.

2. Forrest needs only 16 points to become just the 48th player in Seminoles history to score 1,000 or more for his career.

3. In conference play, only two Seminoles are averaging at least 30 minutes per game compared with four for the Hurricanes.

PREDICTION: Florida State 75, Miami 67