Spokesman-Review
National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Florida State 93, Virginia Tech 78
When: 2:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 7, 2017
Where: Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, Tallahassee, Florida
Officials: # Tim Comer, # James Breeding, # Sean Hull
Attendance: 7041

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Three down, four to go.

That's the mentality No. 12 Florida State had after Saturday's 93-78 victory against No. 21 Virginia Tech -- a win that marked a perfect start in ACC play for the Seminoles, who are facing six ranked conference opponents in their first seven games to begin conference play.

Florida State guard Terance Man led the Seminoles -- winners of 11 straight -- with 22 points and was one of five Seminole players in double figures. The victory also improved Florida State's impressive start to the season to 15-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC, tying them for first place with Notre Dame.

"This (season) is a lot of fun. Winning is always fun," said Mann, whose monster game included going 7 of 11 from the floor, a perfect 2 of 2 from 3-point range and 6 of 8 from the free throw line. "We're doing a great job of taking it one game at a time. We haven't even talked about who we're playing next."

But the next one is big.

The Seminoles now face a Tuesday showdown against No. 8 Duke back at the Donald L. Tucker Center, where Florida State is 11-0 at home this year. But the gauntlet doesn't end there as that game will be followed by a huge road test at No. 14 North Carolina and then back at home for games against No. 23 Notre Dame and No. 9 Louisville over the next three weeks.

"We feel very fortunate to come away with the victory -- this did not feel like a 15-point victory," Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "But I try to keep things in perspective. In order for these three (wins in our first three ACC games) to mean something, we have to keep winning. No one's going to the NCAA Tournament winning three conference games. So I realize we still got a lot of work to do."

In the meantime, Florida State is enjoying its highest ranking since the 1992-93 season and is now one win away from tying the best start in program history (16-1 in 1988-89).

Virginia Tech, minus star guard Seth Allen (concussion), lost its second straight game Saturday after starting ACC play with an upset of then-No. 5 Duke on New Year's Day.

The Hokies (12-3, 1-2) were blown out by N.C. State on Wednesday, 104-78, and they will end a two-game road stretch 0-2 before returning home Tuesday to host Syracuse in their next outing.

"Hard to win when you give up 93 points ... or 104," Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams said. "We are going to have to improve defensively."

Virginia Tech forward Chris Clarke paced the Hokies with 22 points and eight rebounds, while guard forward Zach LeDay added 19 points and guard Ahmed Hill notched 16 in the loss. Virginia Tech's only other double-figure scorer was guard Justin Robinson with 11 points as just eight Hokies players saw playing time Saturday.

Those four produced nearly all of Virginia Tech's offense -- only three other Hokies scored, totaling 10 points.

"A lot of unforced errors today, man. That helped them get into transition -- and that's the best transition team in the country right there," said LeDay, the Hokies' leading scorer on the season who also added seven rebounds, one block and one steal. "They scored something like 30 points in transition -- I'm not even sure. It was a lot. If we had gotten back (on defense) and cut out turnovers down, it's a different game."

Virginia Tech's also continued a stretch of futility in Tallahassee for the Hokies, who are now 5-19 in games at Florida State and haven't won on the road against the Seminoles since 1990.

Florida State also got double-figure games from forwards Jonathan Isaac and Jarquez Smith, as well as guards Dwayne Bacon and P.J. Savoy.

Bacon, Florida State's leading scorer on the season at 17.3 points a game, turned in his 25th straight double-digit performance Saturday dating back to last season as he finished with 17 points and six rebounds. Isaac notched 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds in the win, while Smith finished with 12 points and Savoy chipped in 11.

But while Mann may not have been looking ahead to Duke after this one, Smith was.

"It's going to be fun," Smith said. "We're looking forward to it. We feel like we have a lot to prove this year."

After spotting the Hokies a 6-0 lead to start the game, the Seminoles took a 48-37 edge into halftime and then widened that margin to as many as 19 points with eight minutes to play in the second half.

Virginia Tech went on a run late in the game and trimmed that lead to 13 points with five minutes left -- then got it down to 10 points with a minute left -- but never got any closer.

Early on, however, Virginia Tech hung tough against the Seminoles, who haven't loss since late November when they suffered their lone defeat on the road against Temple.

Florida State's opening two minutes featured three missed shots and two turnovers, but the Seminoles quickly rebounded and scored 12 points over the next three-and-a-half minutes to grab its first lead 12-11.

Behind two first-half 3-pointer by Mann -- who hadn't made one from long range all season coming into the game -- the Seminoles pushed that to an eight point lead 36-28 with just over four minutes to go in the first half. The extended the lead to 40-29 a minute later on back-to-back steals by guard Trent Forrest and two easy layups at the other end.

Williams lamented his team inability to stop those transition buckets, while also lauding this year's Florida State squad, whom he called outstanding.

"They have 12 high-major plus players, and (coach Hamilton) manages their energy level and skill-set and matches it accordingly," Williams added. "I think they're just really, really good. And, look, I know football is big (at Florida State), but I think coach Hamilton is too much an afterthought and doesn't get the credit he deserves nationally. I think this is the best team he's ever had, in my opinion."

NOTES: The Seminoles will face a Duke team Tuesday that will be minus its head coach Mike Krzyzewski (back surgery), but the Blue Devils return star guard Grayson Allen (suspension). ... Florida State now leads the all-time series against the Hokies 31-22 as the Seminoles exacted some revenge Saturday after Virginia Tech won their last meeting 96-85 on March 9, 2016, in Blacksburg, Va. ... Virginia Tech's Chris Clarke added two steals in the loss. ... Florida State's Jarquez Smith added two blocks in the win, and guards Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Braian Angola-Rodas and Dwayne Bacon each notched two steals. ... Florida State was 7 of 17 from 3-point range, while Virginia Tech was 4 of 15. ... Florida State won the turnover battle, committing just 13, while Virginia Tech coughed it up 16 times.
Top Game Performances
 
Virginia Tech   Florida State
Chris Clarke 22 Scoring Terance Mann 22
Justin Robinson 4 Assists Xavier Rathan-Mayes 8
Chris Clarke 8 Rebounds Terance Mann 9
Chris Clarke 8 Free Throws Made Terance Mann 6
Chris Clarke 2 Steals Dwayne Bacon 2
Ahmed Hill 1 Blocks Jarquez Smith 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Virginia Tech 78 45.2 4-15 18-26 7 32 4 7 16
Florida State 93 49.2 7-17 24-32 17 37 6 11 13