Louisville-Florida State preview

Louisville Cardinals (6-15, 1-9) vs. Florida State Seminoles (12-8, 6-3)

Game Time: 8 p.m.

Location: KFC Yum Center: Louisville, Ky.

Television: ACC Network

Announcers: Mike Monaco (play-by-play) and Randolph Childress (analyst)

Favorite: Florida State by 5.5

Series: Louisville leads, 34-18

Last Meeting: Florida State won 81-78 on Feb. 4, 2023 in Louisville

Series History:

Probable Starting Lineups:

• G Skyy Clark (6-3, 205, So.)
• G Tre White (6-7, 205, So.)
• G/F Mike James (6-5, 200, R-So.)
• F Kaleb Glenn (6-6, 205, Fr.)
• F Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10, 240, Jr.)

Florida State

• G Darin Green Jr. (6-5, 195, Sr.)
• G Jalen Warley (6-7, 205, Jr.)
• F Jamir Watkins (6-7, 210, R-Jr.)
• F De’Ante Green (6-9, 210. So.)
• F Baba Miller (6-11, 204, So.)

Statistics:

Relevant Videos:

About Florida State:

After a fairly disastrous run during its non-conference portion of the season, Florida State currently finds itself sitting at 6-3 in the ACC and alone in fourth in the conference standings. The Seminoles’ outside shot at making the NCAA would likely be torpedoed by a loss Saturday night against Louisville.

The Seminoles have had success in league play thanks primarily to their defense. FSU ranks 38th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, and has only allowed one opponent since Dec. 9 to breach the 80-point mark. The Seminoles are forcing turnovers on 21.3 percent of their defensive possessions, the 29th-best rate in Division-I.

Junior forward Jamir Watkins, a VCU transfer, has been the team’s engine so far this season. He leads the team in both scoring (13.9 ppg) and assists (3.0), but his biggest impact may come on the defensive end. Watkins enters Saturday’s game with 97 career steals, and needs just three to reach the 100 steals mark for his career. He has 31 steals in his first season at Florida State and totaled 64 steals in his two seasons with the Rams.

If you’re looking for the candidate to go off from deep against the Cards, look no further than Darin Green Jr. (12.1 ppg). Green enters Saturday with 349 career made 3‐point shots. He has made 141 triples as a Seminole, and knocked down 208 during his three‐year career at UCF.

Louisville’s point guard issues — both Skyy Clark and Ty-Laur Johnson will be game-time decisions — could doom them in this one. Florida State, which has earned double‐figures in steals in nine games – including four ACC games – enters the weekend as the conference leader in steals with 9.3 team steals per game average. The Seminoles totaled 11 steals in their last game against North Carolina, and 10 in their last road win at Syracuse.

Notable:

—Florida State is riding a seven-game winning streak over Louisville for the first time in the lengthy series between the two programs. Before this current run, the Seminoles had only once won back-to-back games over the Cardinals, and that happened all the way back in 1978.

—U of L’s longest winning streak over FSU is nine games, which lasted from 1978-1982.

—Louisville is looking to avoid going winless against Florida State (barring an ACC tournament meeting) for a fourth straight season.

—FSU has won four of its last five games over Louisville by at least nine points, including a 22-point win in their first of two meetings last season.

—Louisville point guards Skyy Clark and Ty-Laur Johnson are both nursing injuries (shoulder and ankle, respectively) and will both be game-time decisions.

—Four of Louisville’s six wins this season have come while trailing at halftime. The Cardinals have been outscored by 154 total points in the first half this season, but have outscored opponents by 32 after halftime.

—Florida State has won three consecutive ACC road games.

—Louisville hasn’t beaten Florida State at home since Jan., 2016.

—The Cardinals haven’t beaten the Seminoles at all since an ACC tournament first round win in 2018 under interim head coach David Padgett.

—Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton enters Saturday’s game against North Carolina as the fifth winningest coach in ACC history with 416 wins. He is also the fifth winningest coach in ACC history for ACC regular season victories (165), ACC regular season and ACC Tournament wins combined (191). He is sixth in the ACC record book for ACC road wins (68), and eighth in ACC history for NCAA Tournament wins as an ACC Head Coach (18).

—Louisville is 6-9 all-time in games against Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton. The Cards are 4-9 against Hamilton at FSU, and went 2-0 against him during his time at Oklahoma State.

—Florida State enters Saturday’s game against Louisville having won an NCAA record 14 consecutive overtime games. The Seminoles’ streak began with a 101‐90 win in double overtime against Syracuse on January 13, 2018.

—Louisville is 3-28 in ACC games under the direction of head coach Kenny Payne.

—Louisville is 223-15 over the last 20 seasons and 20-3 over the last three when scoring 80 points or more. The Cards are 4-1 in such games this season.

—Since 2004, Louisville is 129-0 when leading by more than 10 points at halftime.

—Louisville has won 162 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Florida State 78, Louisville 71