Three things to know about Florida State ahead of clash with UNC

After a week off, college basketball returns to Chapel Hill on Monday night as North Carolina welcomes Florida State to the Dean Smith Center for a 7 p.m. ET tip.

The Tar Heels (12-1) open ACC play riding their strongest start since the 2008-09 season, which ended with a national championship. In their final tune-up before the conference schedule, they overwhelmed East Carolina 99-51 on Dec. 22 in Chapel Hill. Henri Veesaar finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Caleb Wilson added 21 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks, and Luka Bogavac chipped in 15 points as UNC closed its nonconference slate in dominant fashion.

Florida State (7-6), meanwhile, is coming off an 87-63 win over Jacksonville, giving the Seminoles two straight victories. That surge follows a five-game losing streak, and all seven of FSU’s wins have come against Quad 4 opponents as the Seminoles have struggled against teams in higher quads.

However, the Seminoles have a standout point guard in Robert McCray V, who averages 13.5 points and an ACC-best 7.1 assists per game, and they love to push the pace on both ends of the floor.

"They’ve got great positional size and athleticism, and they can do a number of things defensively," UNC coach Hubert Davis said during his press conference on Monday. "We expect to see everything — man, zone, full-court press, three-quarter-court press, traps out of the press, different types of defenses on baseline out-of-bounds, whether it’s man or zone, and then flowing back into man or zone."

"What they do a really good job of is creating chaos, getting deflections and steals," Davis continued. "One of the things I always tell the team is: never let a defense dictate or decide how efficient we are on the offensive end. So for us, regardless of what Florida State does — and they do a terrific job — it’s about staying within our principles, executing, and just hitting singles." 

Here are three things to know about the Seminoles.

New Coach, Familiar Face

After 23 seasons as head coach, Leonard Hamilton stepped down at the end of last season as Florida State’s all-time winningest coach. His successor is Luke Loucks, one of his former players.

Loucks played at Florida State from 2008 to 2012, appearing in 136 games for the Seminoles. He was part of the 2011 team that reached the Sweet 16 and the 2012 squad that won the ACC tournament title. He started on that 2012 team, averaging 7.1 points, 4.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game.

Loucks spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings from 2022 to 2025. Before that, he was an assistant with the Golden State Warriors from 2016 to 2021, serving on the staff that won NBA championships in 2017 and 2018.

Offensive Struggles

If there is one area where Florida State struggles most, it is shooting efficiently. The Seminoles rank 307th nationally and second to last in the ACC in field goal percentage (44.2%) and sit 281st in the country in 3-point percentage (31.4%).

There is a caveat to those numbers: Florida State takes far more 3-pointers than most teams. The Seminoles lead the ACC in 3-point attempts and rank second nationally, with only Charleston Southern taking more.

Even so, that volume does not fully excuse their shooting woes. It does, however, underscore their commitment to playing fast and firing from deep, regardless of recent results. If North Carolina is not careful, those shots could start to fall against the Tar Heels.

No Luck in Chapel Hill

Since 2000, Florida State has beaten North Carolina at the Smith Center only twice: a 76-71 win on Jan. 22, 2000, over a Tar Heels team that went on to reach the Final Four, and a 77-67 victory on Feb. 24, 2010 — a game Loucks played in, underscoring how long it has been.

Since that 2010 loss, North Carolina has won seven straight home games against Florida State at the Smith Center and has taken seven of the last eight meetings overall between the programs.

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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: Three things to know about Florida State