Teams: Syracuse Orange (16-6, 7-2) vs. Florida State Seminoles (16-5, 4-4)
Day & Time: Tuesday, February 5 at 8 p.m. ET
Location: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Line: TBD, though ESPN’s BPI gives Syracuse a 70.9-percent chance at a win
TV/Streaming: ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN
Radio: Syracuse IMG Network, WAER 88.3, SiriusXM: 965 (Syracuse) | 955 (FSU)
Florida State blog: Tomahawk Nation
Rivalry: 7-3, Syracuse
Current Streak: 1, ‘Noles
First Meeting: Syracuse went down to Tallahassee and delivered exactly the sort of game that made that team so deadly. Derrick Coleman scored 21 points with 12 rebounds, while Billy Owens led the way with 23 points of his won. Syracuse won 90-69, taking a 42-27 lead at half and expanded it from there. They also shot over 53 percent from the field. Fans of this year’s team would weep reading the box scores in comparison.
Last Game: Desperate for a win to right the ship early in the ACC schedule last year, Syracuse went on the road to FSU and nearly scored an upset over the then-No. 23 Seminoles. The Orange came back from 10 down at half to tie it at the end of regulation, then wound up falling 101-90 in double overtime, in part as a result of the terribly short bench they had to run with all season. The output was impressive for an SU team that only hit 38.8 percent of their shots on the day.
Head Coaches: Head Coaches: SU: Jim Boeheim (43rd year, 1,043-377; FSU: Leonard Hamilton (17th year, 343-213)
Coach Bio: Hamilton parlayed a playing career at Gaston Community College (in N.C.) and UT Martin right into an assistant gig with Austin Peay, then Kentucky before getting his first head coaching shot in 1986 at Oklahoma State. In four years, he took the Cowboys from eight wins to 17 in a season, but never got further than the second round of the NIT. That was enough to get him the Miami job, however. He won 144 games with the Hurricanes over 10 years and finished up with a Sweet 16 bid in 2000. The Washington Wizards were impressed and brought him aboard in 2000-01, though he lasted a year after going 19-63.
But Hamilton was bank in the college ranks a year later, this time at FSU. When he took over the ‘Noles, they were a a moribund group and never won more than 22 games (and never made the NCAA Tournament) from 2003-2008. The switch flipped in 2008-09, and Florida State made four straight trips to the NCAAs, culminating in an ACC Tournament title. A four-year absence from March Madness has been followed by two more back in the tourney. Florida State made the Elite 8 last year, for just the third time in program history.
Last Year: As mentioned, FSU made the Elite 8 in 2018, running through the West region as a 9-seed before losing by four to national runner-up Michigan in the Elite 8. The ‘Nole were 23-12 on the season, and earned an 8-seed in the ACC Tournament after finishing 9-9. Among the big regular season moments: upset wins over Florida, North Carolina and Clemson. Beating 1-seed Xavier 75-70 in the second round of the NCAAs, then 4-seed Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 were also pretty impressive.
Last Game: Florida State won their third straight game, beating Georgia Tech 59-49 in a slugfest on Saturday. The ‘Noles took a six-point lead into the locker room, then expanded upon it in the second half. Neither team shot well, but FSU’s 34.8 percent from the field (25 percent from three) was good enough to get the job done. Just two FSU players scored in double figures in this one, with Terrance Mann and Mfiondu Kabengele each putting up 12 points.
“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: Kabengele is incredibly efficient, averaging 13 points per game in just 19.3 minutes per outing. He hits over 50 percent of his shots from the floor, and can pick up some blocks (1.1 per) and rebounds (five per) as well.
M.J. Walker is the guy to keep an eye on from outside. He’s a 37-percent shooter from three, hitting 27 of 73 on the year. Though he was 0-for-4 against Georgia Tech, he hit 6-of-7 against Miami in the prior game.
If Syracuse Wins: The Orange score an upset over another top-25 squad (Duke being the other), and get to celebrate its fourth winning streak of three games or more this season — and the second of ACC play. At 8-2, they’re far from “in” just yet, but they set themselves up really well heading into a brutal stretch to close out the year.
If Syracuse Loses: Well that’s not going to help our chances of getting to March Madness. It certainly doesn’t eliminate us by any stretch, but a 7-3 record means you need to go at least 3-5 to be within shouting distance.
Fun Fact No. 1: Hamilton is from Gastonia, N.C. — which happens to be the hometown of Orange running back Moe Neal. Some of the other famous products of the city include Fred Durst, Sleepy Floyd, James Worthy and Hassan Whiteside.
Fun Fact No. 2: The only season in Wizards franchise history that had a worse winning percentage than Hamilton’s .232 in 2000-01 (equaled in 2008-09) was the franchise’s first, when they competed as the Chicago Packers in 1961-62 and finished 18-62, which amounted to a .225 winning percentage.