Florida St. climbing toward .500 with lowly Boston College up next

Florida State and Boston College both started Atlantic Coast Conference play with extended losing streaks.

They've gone in opposite directions since then, entering their Tuesday matchup in Tallahassee, Fla.

The Seminoles (12-13, 5-7 ACC) have won five of their last seven since starting conference play with five straight losses. They're coming off a resounding 92-69 win at Virginia Tech on Saturday.

The Eagles (9-16, 2-10) briefly found something when they won two straight games after an 0-4 ACC start, but have lost their last six games.

It would be easy to credit the offense for Florida State's win over the Hokies last time out. The Seminoles shot 78.3% and nearly doubled up Virginia Tech in the second half, 53-27.

Martin Somerville scored 18 of his season-high-tying 23 after halftime, making all seven of his second-half field goal attempts, including three 3-pointers.

But Florida State coach Luke Loucks lofted the praise on his team's defense.

"The stats would say our guys had great offensive games," Loucks said. "I would argue that their defense was better than their offense, especially in the second half.

"Even though the second half was a great offensive half -- probably the best offensive half of the year for us -- our defense is what allowed that to happen."

A win would bring the Seminoles back to .500 after their rough start to conference play left them at 7-11.

Many of Boston College's losses during its current skid have been close, with four of the six by seven points or fewer.

That can't be said for their last loss, 86-75 at home to Cal on Saturday. The Eagles trailed by 15 at the half and only cut the deficit to single digits once briefly with just over two minutes left.

Boston College badly missed Donald Hand Jr. (13.8 points, 5.0 rebounds per game) after he was sidelined with a leg injury he sustained in the prior game vs. Stanford.

Coach Earl Grant didn't have a definitive answer when asked after the Cal loss when Hand would be able to return.

"He wants to be back and he's passing all tests and all of his imaging is coming back with the best news he can get," Grant said. "But, until they tell us or tell him, ‘Hey, you cleared and you can play,' we're going to continue to move forward without him."

--Field Level Media