No. 3 Miami escapes at Florida State
By Coley Harvey
Sun Sentinel
TALLAHASSEE -- Just call them the ACC?s escape artists.
Once again, the Miami Hurricanes danced out of danger and evaded a scare on the road when they powered past an energetic, upset-minded Florida State team at the Donald L. Tucker Center Wednesday night. The ?Canes scored a 74-68 win over the rival Seminoles.
The victory was Miami?s 12th straight and extended an 11-game winning streak to open its conference slate. The Hurricanes continue on as the ACC?s only unbeaten team. Ahead of a game at Clemson Sunday, the win added to an already good week for the Hurricanes. On Monday, seven days after being named the nation?s eighth-best team, they earned a No. 3 ranking. It is the highest in school history.
At this point, Miami certainly appears destined to claim its first ACC championship.
Conversely, one year removed from winning their first league title since joining the conference, the Seminoles this season are going in the complete opposite direction. They are under .500 in ACC play for the first time this year, and are watching the losses continue to mount.
As has been the Hurricanes? (20-3, 11-0 ACC) mantra all season, offense was the key to their success against the Seminoles (13-11, 5-6). Shooting a season-high 63.8 percent from the field, they had an even better performance on that side of the ball than they did in the third game of the season when they shot the previous season-high of 59 percent.
Sophomore guard Shane Larkin was Miami?s offensive hero, scoring 22 points and adding four assists in 36 minutes. He was 9-for-15 from the field, including a 2-for-4 performance from beyond the 3-point arc.
A day before his Seminoles were to play Miami, coach Leonard Hamilton wasted little time heaping praise upon the Hurricanes? shifty sophomore point guard.
?He?s the real deal, Hamilton said at the start of his pregame remarks Tuesday.
Larkin, an Orlando native, showed exactly why Hamilton delivered the praise.
Despite losing, the Seminoles showed flashes that they might have been able to pull Wednesday<0x2019>s game out. They trailed by as little as three points with one minute remaining in the game. On one of its final possessions, FSU tried to get the ball into hot-shooting guard Michael Snaer?s hands. The Hurricanes, however, had him covered.
Instead, junior Ian Miller took a hopeful 3-pointer that rimmed out. Had it fallen, it would have tied the game with about 20 seconds to go.
During the loss, FSU displayed the rare combination of a newer, more intense, more aggressive style of play from a new-look starting five that played much of the game. Combined with the energy the mostly-full arena, the Seminoles were buoyed in the second half by a strong performance off the bench by sophomore guard Terry Whisnant. The Charlotte, N.C., native, who had started every game since FSU?s Dec. 2 loss to Mercer, was benched for an unspecified reason.
When Whisnant checked in for the first time with 13:05 left in the second half, he provided an instant spark. About a minute later, he knocked down a 3-pointer in the corner in front of FSU?s bench. Some 23 seconds after that, he buried a second straight 3 that cut into a four-point Hurricanes lead. About a minute-and-a-half later, an Okaro White tip-in tied the game at 51.
However, it wasn?t enough to slow down the ACC?s hottest team.
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