NCAA Hoops Preview: Florida State at Wake Forest

Meet the Teams:

The Florida State Seminoles head into Salem to face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons with both teams in desperate need of a win.

Both teams opened conference play with a victory, but both have since dropped their last two.

FSU comes in on the heels of two tough losses, the first in double-overtime to Clemson and the second a home loss to Duke.

The Clemson game saw the 'Noles blow a lead late in regulation and overtime only to run out of gas in double-overtime. Wednesday against Coach K's Blue Devils, they came out slow and trailed by as much as 17, before coming back to take a second half lead. Again, the 'Noles didn't have enough left in the tank to pull it out in the end. 

Likewise, the Demon Deacons are looking to get off a two-game slide. After getting blown out at Boston College and dropping a close game to Maryland (a loss that suddenly looks a lot better after the Terps' win over UNC), Wake Forest returns home to play what is almost a must-win game. 

The Seminoles are led by an experienced group of players and a deep backcourt. Senior guards Isaiah Swann, Jason Rich and Ralph Mims all average double-figures for Leonard Hamilton's squad. Fourth-year junior point guard Toney Douglas leads the team in scoring at a shade under 14 points per game, and also leads the ACC in steals at 2.6 per contest. Junior F/C Uche Echefu has been playing great ball of late, and has nearly doubled his scoring and rebounding outputs from a year ago. 

Wake Forest has had trouble as a team this year shooting the ball from beyond the arc, with no player firing threes at a rate better than 35%.  The leading scorer (14.4 ppg), rebounder (8.5 rpg), and shot blocker (1.7 bpg) is freshman sensation James Johnson. The forward has scored in double figures in all but two contests this season. 

Johnson is complemented on the offensive end by another freshman, Jeff Teague (11.0 ppg), and a sophomore, L.D. Williams (10.1 ppg). 

My Take:

These are two middle-of-the-pack ACC teams, struggling early but still with tournament expectations. The difference in these two teams is experience at this point, both have good talent.

The key for the Seminoles is to not let Johnson and company dominate the paint too much. Echefu is going to have a little more help inside than he's had the past few games as FSU welcomes back freshman Julian Vaughn (irregular heart beat) just one game after Ryan Reid (academic suspension) returned.

Wake Forest is going to need to put pressure on the 'Noles guards—and not let Rich, Douglas and company have their way. 

My Prediction:

FSU has success on the road, Toney Douglas gets back on track with a 20-point effort leading his team to a 73-61 win.