TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (seminoles.com) – Home games in the Donald L. Tucker Center against Duke (Jan. 10), Notre Dame (Jan. 18), Louisville (Jan. 21) and Miami (March 4) highlight the 18-game ACC schedule for the Florida State basketball team as released today by the Atlantic Coast Conference. Road games for FSU include trips to Virginia (Dec. 31), North Carolina (Jan. 14), Syracuse (Jan. 28), and Duke (Feb. 28).
The Seminoles, who are ranked in the top 25 in every pre-season publication including No. 23 by ESPN.com, are one of six ACC teams among the nation’s top 25 teams. Teams from the ACC who are included in ESPN’s Top 25 are: No. 1 Duke, No. 5 Virginia, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 13 Louisville, No. 23 Florida State, and No. 25 Syracuse.
Florida State will play Duke twice (Jan. 10 and Feb. 28), North Carolina once (Jan. 14), Louisville once (Jan. 21), and Syracuse once (Jan. 28) as it embarks on one of the toughest conference schedules in college basketball. The Seminoles’ ACC schedule commences with two games in the month of December as they welcome Wake Forest to Tallahassee (Dec. 28) and travel to play at Virginia (Dec. 31) before the calendar turns to 2017.
"We will face a very tough non-conference schedule that will prepare us for an extremely challenging ACC schedule,” said Seminole head coach Leonard Hamilton. “Our non-conference schedule is a great blend of high quality teams that will allow us to see many different styles before we get to the gauntlet that is the ACC. There are no nights off in college basketball and our schedule certainly prepares us for every game we are going to play.”
Florida State returns two of its top three scorers (Dwayne Bacon, 15.8 ppg) and Xavier Rathan-Mayes (11.8 ppg) and welcomes one of the top recruiting classes in the nation to its roster for the 2016-17 season. The Seminoles’ incoming class includes Jonathan Isaac (No. 9-ranked prep player by Scout.com), Trent Forrest (No. 48-ranked prep player by Sports Illustrated) and first-team junior college All-America selection Braian Angola-Rodas. Florida State also welcomes back frontcourt players Phil Cofer (6.9 ppg and 4.5 rebounds as a freshman in 2014-15) and Michael Ojo (1.2 ppg in 2014-15) to the active roster after both players missed playing time with injuries last season.
Florida State’s slate of nine ACC home games begins on Dec. 28 against Wake Forest and sees four games played on either a Saturday or a Sunday during the season. The Seminoles play host to Virginia Tech (Saturday, Jan. 7), Louisville (Saturday, Jan. 21), Clemson (Sunday, Feb. 5), and Miami (Saturday, March 4) on a weekend day.
Florida State’s ACC home schedule includes six teams who played in the postseason in 2016 – Syracuse (NCAA Final Four), Notre Dame (NCAA Elite Eight), Duke and Miami (NCAA Sweet 16), and Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech (NIT participants).
Florida State opens its season as it plays host to Charleston Southern (Nov. 12) in the first of four straight home games to begin the year. The Seminoles also play host to Iona (Nov. 15), Winthrop (Nov. 18), and Detroit (Nov. 20) to begin the season.
Florida State’s non-conference schedule includes marquee matchups against Florida (Dec. 11) and Minnesota (Nov. 28) in the ACC Big/Ten Challenge. The Seminoles will hit the road for games in Brooklyn, N.Y., (in the NIT Season Tip-Off), Washington, D.C., (in the BB&T Classic against George Washington), and Sunrise, Fla. (in the Orange Bowl Classic against Manhattan). The Seminoles can play as many as three teams that made last year’s NCAA tournament, as well as the NIT champion (George Washington).
The 64th Annual ACC Tournament will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., March 7-11, 2017. It marks the first time the ACC Tournament will be held in New York. Three first round games are scheduled for March 7, four second round games on March 8, four quarterfinal games on March 9, two semifinal games on March 10, and the championship game on March 11 (Saturday) to determine the ACC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Florida State is the third winningest program in the ACC in the last 11 years (since the start of the 2005-06 season) in total games played as a member of the ACC with 233 wins. The Seminoles average 21.2 wins per season with records of 20-10 (2005-06), 22-13 (2006-07), 19-15 (2007-08), 25-10 (2008-09), 22-10 (2009-10), 23-11 (2010-11), 25-10 (2011-12), 18-16 (2012-13), 22-14 (2013-14), 17-16 (2014-15), and 20-14 (2015-16).
Tickets are on sale now for the Seminoles’ impressive home slate. Guarantee your tickets as the Seminoles host the nation’s best inside the Tucker Center by calling 888-FSU-Nole or logging onto Seminoles.com.
Date, Opponent, TV, Time
Nov. 12, Charleston Southern, ACC Network Extra, 1:00 p.m.
Nov. 15, Iona, ACC Network Extra, 7:00 p.m.
Nov. 18, Winthrop, ACC Network Extra, 7:00 p.m.
No. 20, Detroit, ACC Network Extra, TBA
Nov. 24, vs. Temple, ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU, 12:30 p.m.
Nov. 25, vs. West Virginia or Illinois, ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU, 12:30/3:00 p.m.
Nov. 28, Minnesota, ESPNU, 7:00 p.m.
Dec. 4, vs. George Washington, TBA, TBA
Dec. 6, Southern Miss, ACC Network Extra, 7:00 p.m.
Dec. 8, Nicholls State, ESPNU, 9:00 p.m.
Dec. 11, Florida, ESPNU, 4:00 p.m.
Dec. 17, vs. Manhattan, TBA, TBA
Dec. 19, Samford, ACC Network Extra, 2:00 p.m.
Dec. 28, Wake Forest, ESPN2, TBA
Dec. 31, at Virginia, ESPNU, 2:00 p.m.
Jan. 7, Virginia Tech, ACC Network, 2:00 p.m.
Jan. 10, Duke, ACC Network, 8:00 p.m.
Jan. 14, at North Carolina, ESPN/ESPN2, 2:00 p.m.
Jan. 18, Notre Dame, RSN, 7:00 p.m.
Jan. 21, Louisville, ESPN/ESPN2, 2:00 p.m.
Jan. 25, at Georgia Tech, RSN, 7:00 p.m.
Jan. 28, at Syracuse, ESPN2, 12:00 p.m.
Feb. 1, at Miami, ACC Network, 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 5, Clemson, ESPNU, 12:30 p.m.
Feb. 8, NC State, ESPN2, 7:00 p.m.
Feb. 11, at Notre Dame, ESPN/ESPN2, 2:00 p.m.
Feb. 18, at Pitt, ESPN/ESPN2, 4:00 p.m.
Feb. 20, Boston College, ESPNU, TBA
Feb. 25, at Clemson, ACC Network, 12:00 p.m.
Feb. 28, at Duke, ESPN2, 7:00 p.m.
March 4, Miami, ACC Network, 4:00 p.m.
March 7-11, at ACC Tournament, ESPN/ACC Network, TBA
