Florida State at Miami (FL)
Time: 9 PM ET, Jan 15, 2014
Spread: FLS -1.5
Betting Odds courtesy of Bovada
The Florida State Seminoles are 11-4 on the season and 2-1 in ACC play and will travel south to face the University of Miami in ACC play. The Seminoles are 1.5-point favorites over the Hurricanes, according to college basketball oddsmakers at Bovada.
FSU has won six of its past seven contests, with the lone loss coming to the University of Virginia. The team won decisively 85-61 over Maryland last game as Ian Miller scored 20 points and the Seminoles connected on 16 three-point field goals (16-of-24, 66.7 percent). It was the most threes the Seminoles had ever connected on in ACC play, and the team had hit just 10 in its prior four contests combined.
Ian Miller is leading the team in scoring with 13.9 points per game, and Aaron Thomas and Okaro White are the only other two Seminoles with double-figure scoring (12.5 and 12.4, respectively). White, a senior, is an intriguing frontcourt player because at 6’9″ he can stretch the court out to the arc, where he shoots 38.7 percent, and he also can mix it up inside and hit the boards.
Miami is 9-6 and 1-2 in ACC play. The Hurricanes were able to win by six points over UNC on Jan 8 in its last game. The team nearly took down then-No. 2 (now No. 1) Syracuse on Jan 4, losing 49-44 in a brawl. The game was slow paced and the Hurricanes led 35-29 nearing the midpoint of the second half.
If it weren’t for the hot shooting of Syracuse’s Trevor Cooney, the Hurricanes would have had a nice upset. Not a single Hurricane even scored in double figures, but the team held the Orange to 36.2 percent shooting, which was good enough to allow for a little offensive futility of their own.
Rion Brown and Garrius Adams are the Hurricanes top two scorers at 13.7 and 10.5 points, respectively. Brown also is second on the team in rebounding with 6.5 boards per game and the 6’6″ senior has been very good lately. He’s scored in double figures in four of his past five, with the lone exception being the Syracuse contest where he shot 3-of-9 for seven points. In the win over UNC, he notched his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
BETTING TRENDS:
Florida State: UNDER 7-2 in last 9 overall.
Miami (FL): UNDER 8-1 in last 9 overall.
