Posted by BillFromTampa

Florida State vs Wake Forest Saturday 4:00 PM tip off TV Raycom

Records:

FSU 14-6, ACC 2-4 (t 7^th), Home record overall 11-1, ACC 2-1

WF 9-10, ACC 1-6 (12^th), Road record overall 2-5, ACC 1-3

Last Game:

FSU lost to Boston College 85-82 on a buzzer beater from Sean Marshall

WF lost at home to UNC 88-60, UNC’s largest margin of victory ever at WF

Key Stats (Conference only):

Scoring offense – FSU 75.7 ppg (5^th); WF 64.9 ppg (12^th)

Scoring defense – FSU 77.5 ppg (t 10^th); WF 77.4 (9^th)

Free throws – FSU .835 (1^st in ACC, 2^nd in NCAA); WF .563 (11^th)

FG percentage – FSU .459 (6^th); WF .411 (12^th)

FG percentage defense – FSU .482 (10^th); WF .496 (11^th)

3-pt FG percentage – FSU .420 (1^st); WF .326 (11^th)

3-pt FG percentage defense – FSU .325 (5^th); WF .414 (12^th)

Rebounding margin – FSU -1.3 (8^th); WF -.9 (7^th)

Assists – FSU 14.83 (t 2^nd); WF 11.29 (t 11^th)

Turnover margin – FSU +.83 (3^rd); WF -1.29 (8^th)

Steals – FSU 6.83 (7^th); WF 7.00 (6^th)

Projected Starters (stats for all games):
Florida State

Al Thornton – 17.1 ppg , .551 FG %, .837 FT %, 6.2 rpg, .361 3-pt %, 25 blocks (1st)

Toney Douglas – 13.5 ppg, .497 FG %, .755 FT %, .412 3-pt %, 55 assists (2^nd)

Jason Rich – 10.7 ppg, .537 FG %, .800 FT %, .429 3-pt %, 3.3 rpg

Isaiah Swann – 8.4 ppg, .431 FG %, .762 FT %, .333 3-pt %, 62 assists (1^st), 31 stls (1^st)

Uche Echefu – 7.5 PPG, .465 FG%, .818 FT %, .350 3-pt %, 4.1 rpg

Wake Forest

Kyle Visser C SR (6-11, 244) – 17.3 ppg, .605 FG %, .609 FT %, 7.5 rpg, 26 blocks (1^st)

Ishmael Smith PG FR (5-11, 155) – 9.2 ppg, .465 FG %, .451 FT %, 108 assists (1^st)

Michael Drum F SR (6-6, 204) – 8.3 ppg, .432 FG %, .843 FT % .360 3-pt %

L.D. Williams G FR (6-4, 210) – 7.4 ppg, .491 FG %, .548 FT %, .433 3-pt %, 4.1 rpg

Kevin Swinton F SO (6-7, 224) – 3.8 ppg, .568 FG %, .423 FT %, 3.1 rpg

Bench:

Florida State – (Mims, Allen, Breeden, Reid) 17.6 ppg, 9.4 rpg

Wake Forest – (Hale, Skeen, Gurley, Dukes, Weaver) 26.0 ppg, 11.4 rpg

Starting three freshmen for much of the season, Skip Prosser’s team has searched to find consistency on the floor. With so much youth his team has struggled and particularly early in games this season. WF has shown moments of playing well in the late parts of games. But usually the Deacons have been behind by such large margins they have been unable to pull out the victory.

Attrition has been a factor in the Deacon’s travails as well with Wake losing two to transfer and one, Chris Paul, to the NBA after his sophomore season two years ago.

In addition inability to settle on a starting lineup has contributed to the instability of the team’s performance.

Visser is much improved over his past seasons and is by far the focal point of the offense. ACC teams however have begun to focus on him holding him to just 12 ppg in the Deacs last three games.

Smith is a very quick guard adept at making plays. He is also equally adept at making turnovers (69) frequently playing at too fast a tempo and dribbling the ball in too deep around traffic.

Look for Florida State to pressure the ball and force turnovers from the young players.

On offense the Deacons in the past were a dangerous team in transition. If you scored you better get back on defense because they would be back at your rim in seconds. That aspect from the offense has been missing this season however.

As has been in the past, Wake has not been an especially good defensive team. With FSU’s free throw shooting prowess getting to the line would be a big plus in securing the win.

On paper this would look to be a game that FSU should win. But it is an ACC and as fans have seen ACC games are a war every single game. The ‘Noles will have to still be on top of their game.