By Harry Barsan

No. 25 Louisville will face the Florida State Seminoles for the second time this season, this time in the KFC Yum! Center.

Star-studded dumpster fire

Things have not gone FSU’s way after their meeting with the Cards.

Head coach Leonard Hamilton has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season, and any hopes they had of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament have died after going 7-6 since Dec. 21.

In spite of all this, the Seminoles still have enough athleticism and talent to make some noise.

The Florida State offense is still led by Jamir Watkins and his 17.9 points per game. He put up 25 on 4-of-6 from three-point range against Louisville, and has played stellar ball this season.

While he isn’t the best shooter on the team, he’s found his niche from the free throw line. Despite shooting a modest 73.3% on freebies, he leads the ACC in attempts (143) and makes (195).

The best shooter on the team is Malique Ewin who, despite not shooting a single three this year, leads the conference with his field goal percentage of 58.1%.

With his 6-foot-10 218-pound frame, he can give you six buckets easily despite shooting less than 10 shots per game. Not to mention, he’s second in the ACC with 3.3 offensive boards per game.

Louisville held Ewin to 17 points in their first matchup, but James Scott and Noah Waterman have ramped up their physicality significantly since then. Ewin still holds the advantage in size and post skills, but it’ll be interesting to see how the Cards’ bigs matchup Saturday.

As a team, the Noles have not lived up to their stars. FSU has the 15th ranked effective field goal percentage in the conference at 49.7% and the 17th ranked three-point shooting at 30.2%. Both of these numbers are significantly lower than their season averages.

Louisville’s defense has trended in the opposite direction, having found their rhythm after adjusting to the loss of Kasean Pryor and regaining Aboubacar Traore from injury.

Traore adds a level of athleticism that the Cards didn’t have in their first go around with the Noles, but don’t expect him to see major minutes.

Talla-hassle

The opposite side of the court ha been a better story for the Seminoles.

FSU is more than capable of poking their heads in uncomfortable places and disturbing opposing offenses. They grab 8.2 steals and swat 4.9 shots per game, but pay for it with 18.6 team fouls per game.

In total, five different Seminoles average one-plus steals per game, including Taylor Bol Bowen and his team-leading 1.6 blocks per game.

In their recent victory against Miami, the Seminoles picked up a team total of 12 steals and five blocks. This marked their 10th game with nine-plus steals and 14th with five-plus blocks, both very high marks league-wide.

They’re a bit weaker on catching boards and have only out-rebounded opponents in two of their 10 losses.

Louisville easily out-rebounded them in their earlier match, winning the battle 29 to 23 thanks to J’Vonne Hadley and his eight boards.

The Cards also had little to no trouble dissecting this defense. In the last match, Reyne Smith and Waterman shot a combined 10-of-16 from three, combining for 42 points.

As a team they shot phenomenal all-around, and simply out-powered the Florida State defense.

It’ll be exciting to see if the Cards can replicate this earlier performance with a home crowd instead this time around. A win would put them at 21-6 on the year and 14-2 in the ACC.

Tip-off is scheduled for noon Saturday at the Yum! Center.

Photo Courtesy // Mallory Peak, Louisville Athletics