1. After this win FSU is now 5-1 in conference play and tied atop the ACC. There are three other one loss teams. Duke (5-1) has played the 11th most difficult conference schedule. NC State (4-1) has played the 12th most difficult (and have a 6-day stretch later in the season where they play at Duke, vs FSU and vs UNC). North Carolina (3-1), the 9th most difficult. FSU, meanwhile, has played the 2nd hardest schedule in the conference. The Seminoles have already played half their road schedule, something no other ACC team has done. Now they play four of the next five at home, with the only road trip being to Boston College. Last year FSU also began ACC play with a 5-1 record, but then had to play five of seven games on the road.
2. For the 2nd straight game FSU converted half (8-16) of their 3-pt attempts. In ACC play FSU is shooting 41.2% from beyond the arc, which leads the conference. Against Wake Forest Michael Snaer led the way by making all four of his attempts, and has now made 6-straight going back to his end-of-the-1st-half heave against Duke. The only other time Snaer has made four or more 3s in a game was November 28th, 2010, in a loss Florida.
3. Not a single FSU player played more than 27 minutes. Ten players were on the floor for at least 8 minutes. Because FSU was able to put the game away in the 2nd half coach Hamilton was able to rest his starters and give minutes to the bench players. Not only are these minutes invaluable, but it also means the the staff is more comfortable with how the offense is consistently executing and didn’t have to use the 2nd half as an extra practice for the starters. Okaro White, Jeff Peterson and Ian Miller all played more minutes than two of the starting five.
4. Travis McKie entered the game having recorded double-doubles in three of his past five games, and averaging 17.2 ppg on the season. But against FSU he shot 1-13. Several of these were open looks, but the Noles also game planned around being extremely physical with McKie. FSU bumped him and leaned on him all night. Only one other time this season has McKie been limited to one made FG, and in that game (NC State) he attempted five. Sixteen previous times in his career he’d attempted at least 13 shots and had never made fewer than 6.
5. The final was 75-52. This was a low (64) possession game, which means the Seminoles scored 1.17 per possession. That’s four straight conference games where the Noles have scored 1.13 per trip or greater, something they haven’t done in 6 years. The offense, since moving to a 3-guard lineup, has gone from the 187th rated offense nationally, to 74th. In that same time the defense has gone from 4th to 5th.
