Florida State, Miami renew 'rivalry' in regular-season finale

Field Level Media|published: Fri 8th March, 14:46 2024

Mar 2, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Florida State Seminoles forward Jamir Watkins (2) shoots against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first half at McCamish Pavilion. credits: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Florida State looks to continue its dominance as visiting Miami hopes to reverse a recent trend when the programs meet Saturday at Tallahassee, Fla., while renewing a Sunshine State rivalry that seems to be cooling a bit.

The Seminoles (15-15, 9-10 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including an 84-75 win at Coral Gables on Jan. 17. Miami's only victory in that stretch was an 86-63 romp in Tallahassee in January 2023.

"Quite honestly, it hasn't been a rivalry," Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga said. "They've handled us so often the last five, six years that we have not been able to figure out the formula for beating them. We've been closer to beating teams like Carolina and Duke or Clemson."

The Hurricanes (15-15, 6-12) limp into the regular-season finale riding an eight-game losing streak, their longest since dropping 10 in a row in the 2003-04 season. Their last win was an 82-74 decision over Virginia Tech on Feb. 3. They are coming off a 67-57 loss to Boston College in their home finale.

The Seminoles are on a two-game skid after losing 88-73 at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. It marked the third consecutive outing that Florida State allowed an opponent to score in the 80s, though it won one of those games, 90-83 over North Carolina State on Feb. 27.

Pittsburgh shot 55.9 percent from the field, going 16 of 26 (61.5 percent) in the second half while as FSU coach Leonard Hamilton kept searching for answers defensively.

"I probably played more zone in the second half than I played the last five years," Hamilton said. "We normally have always been a pretty solid man-to-man team, but that's who we are this year."

The Seminoles are 14th in the ACC in scoring defense, giving up an average of 75.8 points a game. Only last-place Louisville (79.0) gives up more.

"We have not been a good defensive team all year," Hamilton said. "We've been consistently inconsistent."

Jamir Watkins leads the Seminoles at 15.1 points per game, followed by Darin Green Jr. (11.3) and Primo Spears (10.4).

Norchad Omier tops the Hurricanes with a 17.3 scoring average, followed by a trio averaging 13.7 points apiece in Wooga Poplar, Nigel Pack and Matthew Cleveland.

—Field Level Media

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