The Florida State Seminoles are looking to win their first ever ACC regular season championship, but have had some major road woes. FSU is just 2-4 on the road this season and although it has scored some major wins against Virginia and Miami, the Noles have also posted bad road losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse. This Saturday the Seminoles will go on the road again to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers, who have been pretty bad this season, but have looked improved in recent weeks.
At 4 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN2 for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Saturday, February 18, 2017, at Petersen Events Center. We will have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Saturday schedule.
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FSU was favored in three of its four road games that it lost outright and will be favored again in the Steel City on Saturday afternoon. In those games, the typically staunch Seminoles defense has really struggled to keep opposing offenses under wraps. Leonard Hamilton’s squad gave up 85 PPG in those four losses and few teams can win playing defense that poorly.
Pittsburgh had covered four straight prior to its loss to Virginia Tech on Valentine’s Day. Included in those covers were outright wins against Boston College and Syracuse and a one-possession loss to North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Six of the Panthers last nine games have gone under the total.
Key Stat
Unlike most seasons with Leonard Hamilton, the Seminoles have one of the most efficient offenses in the country. That’s because of the playmakers this team has in both the starting five and on the bench with multiple players able to go one-on-one and beat their man. Florida State hasn’t had this many stars since the early 1990s when Sam Cassell, Bob Sura, and Charlie Ward were on the court and this team is really tough to beat.
The Seminoles are averaging 84.3 PPG with the majority of the production coming from Dwayne Bacon, Jonathan Isaac, and Xavier Rathan-Mayes. Bacon, Issac, and Rathan-Mayes are averaging over 40 points a night between the three and all three are hitting at least 45 percent of their shots from the floor. The bench is extremely deep too with 11 players getting significant minutes.
Matchup to Watch
Pittsburgh has one of the worst defenses of any major conference team in the country. The Panthers are allowing 76.5 PPG this season and opponents have been able to create shots against them throughout the year. Louisville dropped 106 points on Pittsburgh in the Petersen Events Center a little less than a month ago, but since then the defense has improved and has only allowed more than its season average one.
The Panthers offense runs through Michael Young and James Artis. These two each average 20 PPG for Pittsburgh and if the Panthers are going to pull off the upset, they need to play well. It will be tough for them against a team as long and athletic as the Seminoles are, but they have had issues on the road.
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Second-half woes killed Pittsburgh against Virginia Tech on Tuesday. The Panthers were up 11 at the break, but only managed to muster 23 points in the second half to register their 10th conference loss. A win will help first-year coach Kevin Stallings get his team to a postseason tournament, but a loss will likely lead to Pitt finishing the year under-.500.
Florida State has had a full week to prepare for Pittsburgh and think about their road struggles. With that much time to prepare and nothing extremely difficult on the horizon, expect the Seminoles to come in and take care of business with a statement road win.
College Basketball Odds: Florida State 78, Pittsburgh 68
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