Seminoles basketball faces a road test at Boston College

After gutting out a double overtime win vs Syracuse, the short-handed ‘Noles now face a road test versus a rejuvenated Boston College (12-6, 2-3) team.

The Eagles have lost six games, but four were to top-15 teams, and the other two were on the road against Providence and Nebraska. In ACC play, they’ve beaten Duke and lost by just one on the road at Virginia. This isn’t the easy win we’ve come to expect.

Jerome Robinson is an emerging star in the conference. The 6-5 junior entered the season as a 34% shooter from deep, but has turned that up to 48% this year, and is even better (58%) in conference play. He’s averaging almost four 3s a game in conference play, and leads the team scoring 18.1 ppg.

His emergence has taken some pressure off of 6-1 sophomore Ky Bowman. Last year the Eagles had to turn to Bowman and hope he could take over games, while this year they have more weapons. He thrives in transition, and is scoring 16.3 per game.

Jordan Chatman is the designated low volume sharp shooter. With good size on the wing (6-5), he’s made 44% of his 3s, and gives them a lock down free throw shooter (92%) in end-game situations.

Grad transfer Deontae Hawkins was leading them in rebounding (9.1 rpg) but was injured in the 8th game and will likely miss the season.

That leaves them with a mix-and-match in the post, and those minutes mostly go to 6-11 sophomore Nik Popovic who averages 9.2 points and 6.0 boards.

On offense, they don’t excel anywhere, but don’t have any glaring holes either. They’ll run if you give them the chance.

Defensively, they look superficially like Florida State. They switch screens 1-4. They’ll mix in a bit of zone. They don’t apply nearly as much pressure as FSU, but they also defend without fouling, and only four teams in D1 allow fewer free throws per game.

The Seminoles are likely to be without* Terance Mann for the 2nd straight game, and PJ Savoy is doubtful as well. This leaves FSU with just eight scholarship players unless freshman Wyatt Wilkes has recovered from his strep throat.

The game tips at 7 PM and will be broadcast on ESPNU. The Seminoles are a 3.5 point favorite.

*UPDATE: Terance Mann (concussion) says he’s cleared for tonight’s game: