UNC Basketball vs. Florida State: Game preview, info, prediction and more

The UNC basketball program avoided another tough ACC loss on Tuesday night, as they pulled off a nail-biting victory over Clemson. It wasn’t pretty, to say the least, but the Tar Heels made some crucial plays to secure a much-needed victory.

Heading into Saturday afternoon’s contest against Florida State, not much has changed regarding the Tar Heels NCAA tournament status. Hubert Davis and his squad are still on “bubble watch” as they look to take advantage of a favorable upcoming schedule.

The next challenge for North Carolina comes from the Seminoles, who have been struggling as of late. Leonard Hamilton and his squad have lost five consecutive games, all within ACC play.

To coincide with their on-the-court struggles, Florida State is currently dealing with a handful of injuries. They are already without Malik Osborne and Naheem McLeod for the remainder of the season, and have dealt with injury woes from Anthony Polite, John Butler and Cam’Rom Fletcher. Although the Seminoles have been using the majority of their roster recently, the injury losses have impacted them on the floor.

This is a game that the Tar Heels can not afford to overlook. As they look to continue improving their tournament resume, every single win counts, and it starts with the one that will be right in front of them.

Luckily for the Tar Heels, this game will be played at the Dean Smith Center. Last season, the UNC basketball team defeated Florida State when the Seminoles came to Chapel Hill in February but lost to them on a neutral court a few weeks later in the ACC Tournament.

Needless to say, home court advantage should favor North Carolina in this one.

Key To Victory

What does the UNC basketball program get from their guards?

This seems to be a major question for each and every contest.

Caleb Love and R.J. Davis have been inconsistent as of late, as both have had their fair share of struggles over the last couple of games. From watching the Tar Heels, you can get the sense that Love has been pressing of late, as he’s been forcing up bad shots that are similar to what he did during his freshman year on campus.

In order for the Tar Heels to win games, they need to get something out of their backcourt. With a ton of attention surrounding Armando Bacot, North Carolina needs its guards to play smart, take care of the ball, knock down open shots, and most importantly, feed the bigs.

Hopefully, Love’s big three-pointer at the end of the Clemson game will get him going, but it remains to be seen as to whether this duo can get into a consistent rhythm down the stretch.

Something to Watch

Brady Manek is coming off a game in which he scored 11 points on just 5-of-12 shooting. Of those 12 shot attempts, the former Oklahoma standout only knocked down one of his five three-point field goal attempts, which isn’t like the sharpshooting big man.

Over the last three games, Manek has averaged 37.6 minutes per game. If you saw the final minute of the team’s victory over Clemson, there was a camera shot of Manek, who looked completely worn out.

Is fatigue setting in? The Tar Heels sure hope that’s not the case.

With Dawson Garcia’s extended absence, Manek has taken on a much bigger role in the Tar Heels rotation. As North Carolina has been idle since Tuesday, hopefully, a few days off will help get Manek as close to fresh as possible.

Given how important he is to this roster, this is definitely something to keep an eye on.

Projected Starters

No. 4 R.J. Davis (So., 6-0, 175) – 13.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.4 apg
No. 2 Caleb Love (So., 6-4, 195) – 14.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.6 apg
No. 1 Leaky Black (Sr., 6-8 200) – 4.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.4 apg
No. 45 Brady Manek (So. 6-9, 230) – 13.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.6 apg
No. 5 Armando Bacot (Jr., 6-10, 240) – 16.6 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 1.6 bpg

What to watch for

WHAT?  North Carolina Tar Heels  (17-7, 9-4 ACC) vs. Florida State Seminoles (13-10, 6-7 ACC)
WHEN? Saturday, February 12th- 2:00 pm EST
WHERE? Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV? ESPN
RADIO? Tar Heels Sports Network
LAST MEETING? Florida State beat UNC 69-66 on March 12, 2021
ALL-TIME SERIES? UNC leads all-time 51-16
PREDICTION? UNC 71-67

For more on the UNC basketball program’s upcoming matchup against Florida State, check back with the Keeping It Heel team.