January 20, 2007

Derek Redd, Osceola
Warchant.com

Lenny Hall, Florida State's first African-American men's basketball player, took the court before the game. The 1972 men's basketball team, which reached the NCAA national title game, was honored at halftime. So was that team's coach, Hugh Durham, who had his jersey retired for his work as a Seminoles player and coach.

The FSU men's basketball team didn't want to miss out on the festivities, drilling Miami for a season-high 13 3-pointers Saturday in an 86-67 win over the Hurricanes. It was the Seminoles' (14-5, 2-3 in the ACC) second straight win and Miami's (9-11, 2-4 in the ACC) seventh loss in nine games.

"I was happy we could be a part of the celebration," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "In life, sometimes you never have the opportunity to compete for a championship ? in ping-pong, marbles or anything else ? let alone the Final Four or the national title. That is a tremendous accomplishment and I'm glad we were a part of it.

"But the most important thing," he continued, "was we needed to play well for ourselves, to accomplish something and make progress. We're still a work in progress and we're coming closer to reaching our potential."

Hamilton said his Seminoles have always had the potential to be an effective shooting team, and those players proved it by hitting seven 3-pointers in the game's first 10 minutes. In about a six-minute span, the team hit six of 11 shots, all 3-pointers, pulling FSU from a one-point deficit to a 12-point lead. Five different Seminoles hit threes in that span, something Miami coach Frank Haith said the Hurricanes couldn't stop.

"They got a couple of uncontested threes and got into a rhythm," he said. "All five guys they put on the court (can shoot threes), so it's tough to find a defense to guard them."

Hamilton said he was pleased with the way FSU shot from the outside.

"Obviously, this was one of our better shooting games," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We got some early open looks and, when we into the half-court game, we made the extra passes that got ourselves good looks. I always thought we had the potential to be a good shooting team. This game, we put it together."

Jason Rich led FSU with 16 points, hitting both of his 3-point attempts. Al Thornton scored 15, while Isaiah Swann hit four of six threes to finish with 14 points.

"It felt good, man," Swann said of FSU's 3-point barrage. "We knew coming into the game it would take a lot to stop their guards. We knew if we got going early, it's going to be a long game, because their guards couldn't play offense and defense for the full 40 minutes."

The Seminoles led by as many as 33 in the second half before Hamilton emptied his bench. Florida State shot 51 percent from the floor and 56 percent from 3-point range for the game. Miami hit only eight shots in the first half and shot 35 percent for the game.

Haith said he needs better play from his guards to improve. Jack McClinton, Miami's leading scorer, hit only three of 11 shots for eight points. Miami was without post players Anthony King (wrist), Adrian Thomas (abdominal injury), Jimmy Graham (broken hand) and Fabio Nass (torn knee ligaments).

Hamilton said this win over Miami was a needed confidence boost for Florida State's next game, an ACC showdown Tuesday at Boston College.

Talk about it on the Tribal Council or the Hoops Message Board.