Florida State (SID): Game Preview: Seminoles vs. Maine

Game Preview: Seminoles vs. Maine

Seminoles play host to Black Bears on Sunday at 4:00 p.m.

Dec. 8, 2012

Florida State vs. Maine

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (seminoles.com) - Florida State plays its fifth of six consecutive home games as it plays host to Maine of the America East Conference on Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. at the Donald L. Tucker Center. The Seminoles' game against the Black Bears is their first against a team from the America East Conference since they defeated Hartford, 60-38, on December 5, 2010 in a game also played in Tallahassee. Florida State became the 13th all-time champion of the Coaches' vs. Cancer Classic earlier this season as it defeated both BYU (of the West Coast Conference in the semifinals) and Saint Joseph's (of the Atlantic 10 in the Championship game) and has also gained wins over Buffalo and North Florida this season. Following Sunday's game against Maine, the Seminoles will take a week-long break for final exams before closing out their homestand as they welcome Louisiana Monroe to Tallahassee on December 17. Florida State will then play its first of at least five games in the state of North Carolina as they travel to play in a pre-holiday clash against Charlotte at the Times Warner Arena on December 22 at 2:00 p.m.

FLORIDA STATE VS. MAINE - A SERIES HISTORY
Florida State leads the all-time series against Maine by a 2-0 margin with both wins coming under head coach Leonard Hamilton. The Seminoles defeated the Black Bears, 99-69, on Nov. 21, 2003 and topped Maine, 95-55, on Dec. 8, 2007. Maine, a member of the America East Conference, is led by head coach Ted Woodward who was named the 2010 AE Coach of the Year. Maine finished with a 12-17 overall record and a 6-10 conference record in 2012. The Black Bears will travel a total of 1,557 miles to get to Tallahassee to play the Seminoles - the longest combination of flights that any team will take to arrive in the Sunshine State. Minnesota (if they had traveled from Minneapolis) would have traveled 1,374 miles (183 fewer miles than the Black Bears) to get to Tallahassee to play in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge.

SNAER CONTINUES TO JET UP FLORIDA STATE'S SCORING LIST
All-American Michael Snaer scored 10 points against Florida on Wednesday to bring his career scoring to 1,180 points - the 25th highest career scoring total in school history. He began the season ranked 32nd in school history with 1,071 points, has scored 109 points in the first eight games of the 2012-13 season and needs only 15 points to move into 24th place all-time in school history with 1,195 career points. Snaer needs only 81 points to surpass Tharon Mayes and move into Florida State's all-time top 10 for career scoring. Mayes's son, Xavier Rathon Mayes, has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Florida State and play basketball for Seminole head coach Leonard Hamilton.

WHITE ENJOYING BREAKOUT SEASON
Junior Okaro White enters Saturday's game against Maine averaging a career-high 12.9 points per game and a career high 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting a career high .559 from the field, a career high .533 from the 3-point line and a career high .857 from the free throw line. He has scored in double figures in seven of the Seminoles' eight games, has led the team in scoring three times (against BYU and Saint Joseph's and Mercer) and has led the team in rebounding three times (against North Florida, Mercer and Florida). White led the Seminoles in scoring three times and in rebounding seven times as a sophomore during the 2011-12 season.

LOOK FOR FLORIDA STATE TO...
...Defeat Maine and win its third consecutive game against the Black Bears. The Seminoles defeated the Black Bears during both the 2003-04 and 2007-08 seasons; ...Defeat Maine and stop its three-game losing streak - its longest streak since dropping three straight on Nov. 25, 2011 (vs. Harvard, 46-41), Nov. 26, 2011 (UConn, 78-76 in overtime) and Nov. 30, 2011 (at Michigan State, 65-49). The Seminoles have not lost four straight games since Feb. 11 - Feb. 21, 2007 against Boston College, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Maryland; ...Defeat Maine and win its fourth consecutive game against a team from the America East Conference which is made up of schools from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

SEMINOLES SHOOTING WELL FROM THE FREE THROW LINE
Florida State, which is one of six teams in the ACC shooting better than 70 percent from the free throw line, enters Sunday's game against Maine having shot 70 percent or better from the line in six of the first eight games of the season. The Seminoles shot a season-high .821 (23 of 28) in their win over North Florida (Nov. 21). Florida State's all-time single season record for free throw percentage is .773 during the 2007-08 season. Under Leonard Hamilton, the Seminoles have shot the ball well from the free throw line (ranking No. 5 nationally during the 2007-08 season) - while its current .717 shooting percentage from the line is the Seminoles' fourth best mark since the 2003-04 season.

SNAER AND WHITE LEAD FLORIDA STATE FROM THE BONUSPHERE
Florida State enters Sunday's game against Maine ranked fourth in the ACC with a .381 3-point field goal percentage - an improvement of nearly three percentage points from its mark of .354 during the 2012-13 season. Leading the way from the bonusphere are two of the Seminoles top players - All-American Michael Snaer (15 of 37, .405 percent) and junior forward Okaro White (8 of 15, .533 percent). Snaer and White are shooting a combined .442 from the field through the first eight games of the season.

SEMINOLES SCORING IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Florida State enters Sunday's game against Maine averaging 71.6 points scored per game and has had at least three players score in double figures in seven of their first eight games of the season. The Seminoles' top games of the season - wins over BYU (Nov. 16) and Saint Joseph's (Nov. 17) - they placed a season high four players in double figures scoring.

Michael Snaer - GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME
All-American Michael Snaer enters Sunday's game against Maine averaging career high statistics in nearly every category on his personal statistics including points per game (13.6 ppg), 3-point shooting percentage (.405) and free throw shooting percentage (.857). Snaer has worked extremely hard to improve his shooting stroke and his hard work is illustrated in the fact that his shooting percentages from the 3-point line and the free throw line have improved in each of his last three seasons. Snaer is currently shooting a career-high .405 from the bonusphere and a career-high .857 from the free throw line.

SNAER ASSISTING HIS TEAMMATES
All-American Michael Snaer enters Sunday's game against Maine with a team leading 19 assists and a team leading 2.4 assists per game average. In addition to improving his scoring averages and shooting percentages in each of his seasons as a Seminole, Snaer has steadily improved his assists per game averages. Snaer averaged 1.3 assists per game as a freshman (42 assists in 32 games), improved to 2.2 assists as a sophomore (76 assists in 34 games), averaged nearly 2.0 assists per game as a junior (68 assists in 35 games) and is currently averaging a career-high 2.4 assists per game (19 assists in eight games) as a senior.

Source: http://www.bbstate.com/news/612278

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