Virginia travels to play Florida State in clash of conference titans

We don’t have our full-blown preview ready for tonight as we typically do, so this is going to be more of your standard game thread than it is a preview of Tiki’s caliber as the No. 7 Virginia Cavaliers travel to take on No. 16 Florida State Seminoles in a clash of this year’s ACC titans.

The ‘Noles are second in the conference with a 7-3 record against ACC foes, and 11-3 overall. They’re coming off a 92-85 OT win over 3-9 Wake Forest, shaking off the rust after having two games postponed, against Virginia Tech and Boston College. Their conference losses have been at the hands of Georgia Tech—just prior to the break—and Clemson, both on the road.

Virginia comes in tonight as a 1.5-point Vegas underdog, while Kenpom predicts a 66-65 win for the Cavaliers.

Senior guard MJ Walker leads the scoring for Florida State at 13.7 points per game, supported by F RaiQuan Gray with 11.1 points per game and G Scottie Barnes with 10.5 points per game. Gray also leads the team in rebounds (6.6) and steals (1.4).

For your “who’s going to light it up against Virginia tonight,” FSU has G Anthony Polite shooting 51.4% from beyond the arc, going 19 of 37. Walker can also shoot well at 44.4% (28-of-63), as can RayQuan Evans at 47.4% (much smaller sample size, 9 of 19).

Tipoff is at 7pm and will be on ESPN.

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