Florida State @ Miami preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 4, 2017 ) Miami-Florida 57, Florida State 66

Florida State looks to finish a stretch of three straight ranked teams to start the ACC season with a winning record when it travels south to take on No. 17 Miami (Fla.) on Sunday night. The Seminoles gave No. 2 Duke all it could handle in a 100-93 road loss to open the league campaign before holding on for an 81-80 victory over 11th-ranked North Carolina at home last Wednesday.

“I thought we kind of grew up a little,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton told reporters after the win. “Had we not got the stops and gotten big rebounds and executed on the defensive and offensive end at the same time, it would’ve been very difficult to pull this out.” The Seminoles will test their productive offense (85.4) against Miami, which is allowing 58.9 points per game and 36.9 percent shooting overall - both in the top five in the nation. The Hurricanes were off to their best start since 2007-08 at 10-0 before dropping two of the last four, including a 64-54 loss at Georgia Tech on Wednesday, and will play their first home game since Dec. 5. Miami needs to take care of the ball better after coughing it up 15 times in a victory over Pittsburgh last Saturday and recording a season-high 18 turnovers against Georgia Tech.

TV: 6 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT FLORIDA STATE (12-2, 1-1 ACC): Senior guard Braian Angola has combined for 43 points and drained eight 3-pointers in the last two games while junior guard Terance Mann leads the team in scoring (14.8) and rebounds (6.2). Sophomore guard CJ Walker had accumulated 25 points over a five-game span before pouring in 18 against North Carolina, connecting on 4-of-6 from 3-point range. “CJ is a warrior. We all know that,” Hamilton told reporters. “He plays with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. He represents the way we like to play: Good, clean, hard-nosed, tough basketball.”

ABOUT MIAMI (12-2, 1-1): The Hurricanes have held nine of 14 opponents to fewer than 60 points, but they shot 37.5 percent from the field against Georgia Tech and are last in the ACC in free-throw percentage (63.0). Sophomore Dewan Huell is the only player averaging more than 11 points (13.4) on 65.5 percent shooting from the field and the 6-11 forward hauls in 6.4 rebounds a contest. Sophomore guard Bruce Brown Jr. provides 10.9 points along with team highs of 7.3 assists and 4.2 assists while sophomore backcourt mate Dejan Vasiljevic (10.3 points) was just 2-for-11 from the field the last two games.

TIP-INS

1. Florida State F Phil Cofer had 28 points in the ACC opener and was held to five on 2-of-11 shooting against North Carolina.

2. Hurricanes G Ja’Quan Newton, who scores 9.9 per game, became the 38th player in program history to reach 1,000 points last time out.

3. Florida State leads the overall series 45-34 after winning both meetings last season, but Miami has won 27 of 40 at home.

PREDICTION: Miami 76, Florida State 72