Florida State will look to run its winning streak to four straight and snap a 5-game skid against rival Florida on Tuesday as the Gators visit the Donald L. Tucker Center.
The contest will be a rivalry match-up of teams, who have each underachieved early on this season, but both teams come in on winning streaks. While FSU has won three straight, Florida has won its last four games to improve to 7-4 on the season after just a 3-4 start.
The match-up at the small forward position will be one to watch as each FSU’s Montay Brandon and Florida’s Dorian Finney-Smith do a number of things well for their respective teams.
Brandon leads the 7-5 Seminoles in scoring with nearly 14 points-per-game, rebounding with 5.4 per-game and minutes played with 33.4 per game. Brandon is also shooting 60 percent from the field for Florida State.
A late free throw by Finney-Smith was the difference last year as Florida nipped the Seminoles 67-66 at the O’Connell Center. At 6’8″, Finney-Smith is a very athletic forward, who averages nearly 13 points and better than five rebounds for the Gators. He ranks second on the team in each of those categories while shooting just under 50 percent from the floor.
Michael Frazier II is a sharp-shooter that leads Florida, averaging nearly 15 points-per-game. Michigan transfer and brother of former Florida standout, Al Horford, Jon Horford has been very productive in his first year in Gainesville. Horford averages better than nine points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds-per-game.
On the inside for FSU, senior center Kiel Turpin has been exceptional in recent games. Turpin is averaging better than 13 points while shooting 18-for-22 in his last three games. Freshman Phil Cofer and sophomore Jarquez Smith each bring athleticism to the forward position.
Redshirt freshman guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes is the only other player on the Florida State roster currently scoring in double-figures with an 11.5 points-per-game average. Rathan-Mayes leads the team with better than five assists each time out, which would be the most for a Seminole since Delvon Arrington averaged better than six more than a decade ago.
Tuesday’s contest in Tallahassee will be televised nationally on ESPN2 with tipoff slated for just after 7:00 P.M. eastern time. The last victory for the Seminoles in the series came in December of 2008 by a narrow 57-55 margin.
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