Florida State will look to continue its dominance over host Louisville in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday.
The Seminoles (7-16, 5-7 ACC) have won six straight over the Cardinals (2-19, 1-10) dating to February 2019 after a 75-53 victory on Dec. 10 in the teams’ first meeting of the year at Tallahassee, Fla.
Florida State is coming off its most lopsided loss of the season in a 94-66 setback at NC State on Wednesday. Louisville ended a 10-game losing streak by picking up its first conference win of the season with a 68-58 victory over visiting Georgia Tech, also on Wednesday.
The Seminoles trailed the Wolfpack 44-14 with 4:52 left in the first half and by as many as 33 points in the second half en route to their third straight loss.
Florida State committed 13 turnovers that NC State converted into 18 points, while the Seminoles scored just eight points off NC State’s eight miscues. The Wolfpack also outrebounded the Seminoles 41-28.
“That was one of the better defensive teams that we’ve played against all year,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Tonight, I thought they made us uncomfortable from the beginning. They were extremely active, overplaying and pressuring the ball and that really kept us out of sync for really the whole first half.”
Cam Corhen, who averages 8.3 points per game, scored a team-high 16 points to go along with six rebounds, while Darin Green Jr., who averages 14.0 points, added 13 points. Matthew Cleveland, who averages a team-high 14.1 points and 7.6 rebounds, finished with 12 points and three rebounds against the Wolfpack.
Meanwhile, Louisville played one of its best games of the season against the Yellow Jackets.
Leading 57-53 with 3:01 to play, the Cardinals secured the victory by holding the Yellow Jackets without a field goal the rest of the way. Mike James’ 3-pointer pushed Louisville’s advantage to 60-53 and sparked an 11-5 run to end the game.
Jae’Lyn Withers had a game-high 19 points and 13 rebounds against Georgia Tech, while El Ellis added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. Kamari Lands chipped in 11 points and five rebounds, with JJ Traynor finishing with 10 points and four rebounds for Louisville.
The Cardinals’ losing streak was their longest since dropping 12 straight from Feb. 23, 1940-Feb. 8, 1941.
“I thought we played hard,” Louisville coach Kenny Payne said. “I thought we played desperately defensively in the second half. We did make mistakes, but overall, [our players] deserved it.”
Ellis averages team-highs in points (17.0), assists (4.7) and steals (1.1), while James and Withers average 9.4 and 9.0 points, respectively.
–Field Level Media
