Florida State hopes to build on its impressive win against the Jackets today

At least somewhat in the shadow of the near-brawl following Wednesday’s win over Pitt, it was clear how well the Florida State men’s basketball team played for most of the evening.

Especially in defense.

After a less-than-stellar performance in a 20-point loss at Clemson last Saturday, the Seminoles played with as much fight and energy on defense as they have all year. The result was an impressive 82-70 win over the Panthers that improved FSU’s record to 12-5 overall and 3-3 in the ACC.

The ‘Noles will try to reach over .500 in conference play with a home game against Georgia Tech (8-10, 2-5 in the ACC) on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for noon and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

“I thought we showed some signs of progressing mentally and emotionally rather than physically,” the Florida State head coach said Leonard Hamilton said after Wednesday’s win. “We didn’t get faster, quicker or stronger, but I thought we had a change of heart.

“Obviously we were very disappointed with our performance at Clemson, and I think our guys responded in a lot of ways with their effort, their focus, their ability to communicate and hold each other accountable. And that’s what impressed me the most.”

Despite a two-game losing streak at the time, Pitt came to Florida State as one of the best offensive teams in the conference. The Panthers rank third in the ACC in offensive rating and second in field goal percentage. They also only averaged 10 turnovers per game.

On Wednesday night, against a (mostly) stifling Seminoles defense, the Panthers committed 17 turnovers – eight turnovers by star guard Jaland Lowe alone. Pitt also shot just 37.5 percent from the floor. And aside from forward Jorge Diaz Graham going 4 of 5 from 3-point range (he had only made seven 3-pointers total since Nov. 18), the Panthers had shot just 25 percent from long range.

“We had a lot of people give us tremendous effort,” Hamilton said. “Overall, I think we showed some growth and maturity just by the way we responded.”

Now Florida State has turned its attention to a Georgia Tech squad that is really struggling under second-year head coach Damon Stoudamire. The Yellow Jackets have lost three straight conference games since posting a 21-point win over Boston College earlier in the year.

The Jackets are also 0-5 in real road games this season, but one of those losses was just a 68-65 loss at North Carolina in early December.

The Yellow Jackets are led in scoring by guard Lance Terry, who averages 15.4 points per game. Fellow guard Nathan George is averaging 10.4 points per game and is one of the conference leaders in assists at 6.4 per game.

Georgia Tech is coming off a 70-59 home loss to Clemson earlier this week.

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