Fresh off a huge comeback in the second half to upset Wake Forest as modest underdogs, Buzz Williams’ Virginia Tech Hokies must return to the hardwood immediately to take on the No. 2 seed Florida State Seminoles in the team’s second meeting of the season. These teams went at one another in the second round of the ACC tournament the Hokies won last season. The young Seminoles will no doubt be out for retribution, but are they ready for a challenge like this?
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Seth Allen and his Hokies teammates just dropped 62 points on Wake Forest in the second half to secure the 99-90 win in a game they trailed by seven points at the break. It was a heck of an effort from this cohesive squad that’s in the midst of putting together one of the most memorable seasons the program has ever put forth for the Blacksburg faithful. They went off the board as 3 point dogs and won outright to move to 4-2 straight up and a perfect 6-0 against the spread the last six times linemakers favored their opponent to come out on top. The neutral court win also moved them to 3-1 straight up and against the spread for the year.
FSU won three of its four neutral court matchups in its non-conference season, and split the games against the closing number. Leonard Hamilton’s kids possessed some eye opening home/road splits this season. In front of the hometown faithful, the Noles won all 18 of their games and put some cold hard cash in their backer’s pockets by covering the 16 lined games at a 12-3-1 clip. It was a much different story on the road however with the team going 3-6 straight up and 3-5-1 against the spread. The Seminoles are however familiar with the Barclays Center after partaking in the NIT Tip-off back in November.
Key Stat
16 – The Hokies uncharacteristically turned the ball over 16 times in their run-in with the Seminoles at the beginning of the ACC season. For a team that only turns it over an average of 12.2 times per game and only 13.0 times when on the road, it came as quite the surprise. FSU had much to do with that however with its 14.5 per game average ranking it No. 64 in the land at forcing turnovers; a number that increases to 15.3 when at home. However, Seth Allen wasn’t in uniform for that game so it’s likely FSU isn’t able to mimic that output this time around.
Matchup to Watch
Due to the unfortunate season-ending injury to Chris Clarke, the Hokies have been playing down a man for the better part of the last month. Williams has been using a steady seven man rotation ever since. The lack of bodies came back to bite them in their regular season home finale against Wake Forest, but the extra time off allowed for the Hokies to recharge the batteries enough to pull out that impressive second half comeback last night. Florida State has by far the better overall depth, and how it uses it could decide how this game ultimately plays out.
Free College Basketball ATS Pick
The Hokies are 2-0 versus the Seminoles in the ACC tournament all-time, and I give them a heck of a shot at winning this game to move onto the semifinals. As referenced earlier, FSU has been an entirely different team away from its own hardwood and it brings with it a very inexperienced team to Brooklyn. VTECH has risen its program from the ashes, and it’s simply just not time for this phoenix to go home and start planning for the Big Dance. On top of the Hokies incredible run when dogged, they’ve also covered each of their last five games played away from Blacksburg and won three of those games outright. Look for the senior leadership of Allen and Zach LeDay to somehow find a way to punch their ticket to the next round.
College Basketball Odds: Virginia Tech 83, Florida State 80
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