Boston College looking to halt slide vs. Florida State

Boston College looks to snap a six-game losing streak when it hosts Florida State on Saturday in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

The Eagles (9-11, 1-8 ACC) haven't won since beating Miami 78-68 on Jan. 1. Four of their losses since then were by 18 or more points.

Boston College was without forward Elijah Strong in last weekend's 102-96 overtime loss at North Carolina. Strong, the team's No. 3 scorer (10.5 points), missed his third straight game with an illness. BC has been using a four-guard lineup during his absence and made a season-high 14-3-pointers in the loss the Tar Heels.

"We wanted inside-out 3s," Eagles coach Earl Grant said. "Made the right play. Made the shots.

"We're finding that playing four guards offensively is something that's good for us, but we really have to work at getting rebounds because it's four guards -- you don't have a big guy."

Donald Hand Jr. leads Boston College with 14.8 points per game and Chad Venning adds 13.0 per game.

Florida State (13-8, 4-6) will be trying to reverse course as well. Wednesday's 76-66 setback at Virginia Tech was the team's third straight loss. The Seminoles never led in that game.

Jamir Watkins, the team's leading scorer with 18.1 points per game, was held to nine points against the Hokies.

Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said his team hasn't been playing a physical brand of basketball during its three-game skid.

"We've shown from time to time that we really have that toughness and aggressiveness," Hamilton said. "How (has it) been elusive the last three games? We've lost that aggressive mentality and we have to find a way to get it back.

"We have to figure out how to bring this team back to that mental state of mind where we're playing junkyard dog defense and we're playing with a lot more confidence on offense."

The Seminoles have a 1-5 record in true road games this season.

--Field Level Media