A month ago, Florida State men’s basketball sat four games below .500 and was fresh off a devastating late loss to Wake Forest that featured 16 turnovers.
Fast forward a month, and the Seminoles (12-13, 5-7 ACC) are a game away from .500 and are coming off arguably their best win of the season, a 92-69 road rout of Virginia Tech. Spurred on by an 18-point second half from Martin Somerville, FSU comes into a Tuesday, Feb. 17 showdown with Boston College (9-16) with a chance to return to .500 and earn a crucial win for the program’s ACC tournament hopes.
The top 14 teams in the conference advance to the ACC tournament. FSU, winners of five of the last seven, currently sits in 12th, and they welcome a Boston College team ranked 16th. A win can keep the Seminoles’ conference tournament hopes alive, something that head coach Luke Loucks said the team was fighting for ahead of an 88-80 win over Stanford on Jan. 31.
Who’s playing well for FSU basketball?
Somerville hasn’t had a turnover in three games, and he’s tallied 15 assists in that time. His scoring outburst against Virginia Tech broke a cold spell as the sophomore was 2-of-13 from the floor ahead of tipoff.
Alongside Somerville, three other Seminoles ended the game in double figures, with 19 points from Chauncey Wiggins and 17 points each from Robert McCray V and Lajae Jones.
The quartet of players alongside Kobe MaGee leads the Seminoles in scoring. McCray is averaging 14.7 points per game (PPG), Wiggins 12.7 ppg, Jones 11.9 ppg, and both Somerville and MaGe with nine ppg. McCray averages six assists a game, ranked in the top-25 in the nation, and is the only Seminole in history to have four games of 10 or more assists in a season.
Get to know Boston College basketball
Boston College is led by the guard duo of Fred Payne and Donald Hand Jr. Payne averages 15 ppg, and Hand averages 13.8. Hand was injured in the Eagles’ game against Stanford, and missed the program’s most recent contest, an 86-75 loss to Cal.
Hand wasn’t listed on the initial ACC mandated injury report, but was later listed as out on the Eagles final report before tip off.
FSU holds a 15-10 record against Boston College, and a 10-2 home record in the series.
How to watch FSU basketball vs. Boston College
Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: How to watch FSU basketball vs. Boston College in crucial ACC contest
Reporting by Liam Rooney, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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