Florida State vs. Virginia: 2018-19 College basketball game preview, TV schedule
The ninth-ranked Florida State Seminoles (12-1) and the fourth-ranked Virginia Cavaliers (12-0) are looking to get their first win in ACC play to start the new year.
Who: No. 9 Florida State Seminoles (12-1) at No. 4 Virginia Cavaliers (12-0)
TV Schedule: Saturday, January 5 at 3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN 2
Location: John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia
The Florida State Seminoles have been playing really good basketball as of late with key wins against Florida, LSU, and Purdue. Their lone loss came against the Villanova Wildcats 66-60 in late November. The Virginia Cavaliers‘ offensive firepower has led to them being undefeated with key wins against Wisconsin and Maryland.
The Seminoles do a great job of driving the lane and kicking the ball the out for open threes. In the Advocare Invitational semifinal game against LSU, the Seminoles were unguardable when shooting from both corners of the three-point line. Perimeter shooting is a major strength of theirs.
On the defensive end, however, they do struggle with their 2-3 zone defense when facing pressure in the lane. Terance Mann (13.1 PPG, 6.8 RPG), Mfiondu Kabengele (11.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG) and Trent Forrest (10.7 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.6 APG) are their leading scorers.
Florida State is facing the best defense in college basketball. The Cavaliers allow an average of 51.4 points per game and their offense is just as impressive. Kyle Guy (15.4 PPG, four RPG), De’Andre Hunter (14.5 PPG, five RPG) and Ty Jerome (14.2 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 4.3 APG, team-leading 2.1 SPG) are the playmakers on the Virginia side and what will be interesting to see is how the Cavaliers handle Florida State’s ball movement and perimeter scoring. Virginia is second in the league in three-point field goal defense (24.7 percent) behind Texas Tech (24.6 percent).
dark. Next. ACC non-conference awards and rankings
This game may come down to who plays better defense because both offenses score the ball well. This is going to be a close game as a result. I don’t see a blowout taking place with one side dominating over the other.