One can make a compelling case that Florida State turned its season around starting with its first matchup against rival Miami.
The Seminoles were 7-11, 0-5 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, before winning 65-63 at Miami on Jan. 20. That victory started an active streak of seven wins in the past nine games.
The Hurricanes will look for revenge when they travel to Tallahassee, Fla., on Tuesday to face Florida State.
Miami (21-6, 10-4 ACC) has generally had a much more successful season under first-year coach Jai Lucas. The Hurricanes have won six of their last eight games, including a ranked victory over North Carolina.
However, they come in off a loss, dropping an 86-83 result at then-No. 14 Virginia on Saturday when a win likely would have gotten the team ranked in this week’s poll.
The Hurricanes’ three-headed monster of Malik Reneau, Tre Donaldson and Shelton Henderson delivered at Virginia, each scoring 16-plus points.
But Reneau committed six of the team’s nine turnovers, and Donaldson committed a costly foul on a 3-point attempt with 3.6 seconds left that set up the game-winning points.
“It’s one possession here or there that kind of changed the game,” Lucas said. “It’s nothing really to be upset about because my team played good. I’m just more frustrated we weren’t able to pull it out in the end.”
Florida State (14-13, 7-7) is still not close to the NCAA Tournament bubble. However, the surge of success has salvaged a debut season under former Seminole Luke Loucks that appeared to be going off the rails.
The Seminoles, winners of six of their last seven, are coming off their third straight road victory, 70-65 at Clemson on Saturday. Robert McCray V came up big in the win, delivering 29 points — including the team’s final 10 — to raise his scoring average to a team-best 15.7.
Starting with the first Miami game, McCray has averaged 19.9 points.
“He was a grown man,” Loucks said of McCray’s effort on Saturday. “… He put the team on his back and really did what I, the coaching staff and his teammates expect of him. He won the game for us.”
Florida State has dominated the series against the Hurricanes of late, winning the past six meetings and 15 of the past 16 in the rivalry.
