Jan 5, 2012; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins guard Seth Allen (4) leads a fast break against the Virginia Tech Hokies at the Comcast Center. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports
The Teams: Florida State Seminoles 9-5 (1-0) vs. Maryland Terrapins 13-1 (1-0)
The Time: 8 p.m.
The Place: Comcast Center, University of Maryland
TV: ACC Network – Tim Brant (Play-by-Play) and Dan Bonner (Analyst)
Radio: Terrapin Sports Radio Network – Johnny Holliday (Play-by-Play), Chris Knoche (Analyst) and Walt Williams (Sideline)… Flagships – WJZ-FM (105.7) / WJZ-AM (1300) / ESPN980 (D.C.)
Game two of ACC play is upon us and the Maryland Terrapins are riding their 13 game win streak into a match up with Michael Snaer and the Seminoles of Florida State.
The Seminoles have had an up and down season to say the least, with bad losses to schools like South Alabama and Auburn as well as noteworthy wins over BYU and St. Joe’s, the Noles are a tricky team to figure out. The bulk of their scoring comes from the perimeter as Michael Snaer and Okaro White, the Seminoles only players averaging over 10 PPG, both shoot over 40% from three point land. Squaring in on slowing down those two will be key for the Terrapins in their hopes for victory tonight.
Florida State presents another challenge for Maryland this evening. Tonight marks the first time this season, since the season opener against Kentucky, that the Terrapins will not have a drastic size advantage. The Noles have two bonafide 7-footers that play 10+ minutes per game in Boris Bojanovsky and Kiel Turpin. Compared to Alex Len, these two pale in comparison talent wise but the fact that the Noles have two bodies as big as Len that they can throw at the Terps big man on defense could be a factor in the game. At the very least, it should be a bit more difficult for the Terps to own the boards on both ends as they have during this winning streak.
Player to watch for Florida State: Michael Snaer
The senior, and former McDonald’s All-American, is leading the Seminoles in scoring and is easily their most important player. Should Snaer go off and have a big night against the Terrapins, especially from the outside, Maryland could be in trouble. Look for Dez Wells and, hopefully a healthy, Nick Faust to try and slow down the Seminoles leading scorer.
Player to watch for Maryland: Dez Wells
Wells has turned into one of the Terrapins leaders over the course of just 14 games. The Raleigh, North Carolina native and transfer from Xavier University is averaging over 12 points per game for Maryland while shooting over 57% from the field. Wells is the Terrapins most electrifying athlete and one of the teams top defenders, should he continue to play up to those standards tonight the Terrapins win streak will continue.
Prediction: Maryland 79 – Florida State 70
Maryland will prove that their domination of the glass was not just due to the fact they were towering over their competition. I expect Wells and Len to lead the Terps as they have in most games this season to what will be Maryland’s 14th straight victory. With Nick Faust coming back from only playing 5 minutes against Virginia Tech due to back spasms expect Jake Layman to get the start again tonight and for Seth Allen to get major minutes off the bench as I am sure they will not want to rush Faust back and risk aggravating the injury again.