No. 16 Hokies get another shot at No. 12 Seminoles

The No. 12 Florida State Seminoles and No. 16 Virginia Tech Hokies will meet for the second time in 10 days in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament on Thursday.

Tipoff is set for approximately 2:30 p.m. ET in Charlotte, N.C.

The Hokies (24-7) crushed Miami 71-56 in the second round of the tournament Wednesday to advance. The Seminoles (25-6) earned the double-bye with a fourth-place finish in the regular season.

The Hokies have won four of their past five games, their only loss coming in heartbreaking fashion to FSU in overtime on March 5 in Tallahassee. Virginia Tech let a 14-point lead at halftime get away from them before succumbing in overtime, 73-64.

Further, that win secured the double-bye for FSU while Va. Tech had to settle for fifth place.

"I think it's pretty remarkable that in Year 4 we would play for the fourth seed in the best league in the country," Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams said after that game. "And considering all that's transpired this season, to play the way that we have played in the last nine games, it's scarred my heart in a good way."

The Seminoles enter Thursday rested and riding a four-game winning streak. FSU has won 12 of its past 13 games, its only loss in that span coming Feb. 23 at North Carolina. The Seminoles lost by 18.

However, through the luck of the draw, FSU had to play the top 3 teams in the ACC just one time each in the regular season, going 0-3 against Virginia, UNC and Duke.

For their part, the Hokies went 1-3 against those teams, defeating Duke 77-72 on Feb. 26. The Hokies played Virginia twice.

In the first meeting of these teams, Mfiondu Kabengele led FSU with 17 points but it was M.J. Walker who spurred the comeback, scoring nine of his 11 points after halftime.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker led the Hokies with a game-high 19 points in the loss. Va. Tech's second-leading scorer during the season, Kerry Blackshear Jr., was held to just nine points on 2-of-6 shooting. He was saddled with foul trouble throughout and eventually fouled out.

The Hokies held FSU to 19 points in the first half.

"Virginia Tech did an unbelievable job in the first half of bottling us up and taking away the things that we were accustomed to doing," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We could have very easily have gotten discouraged. We didn't panic. I thought the guys responded to each other and responded to the challenge that we gave them as coaches."

Against the Hurricanes on Wednesday, Blackshear scored 19 points, pulled down 10 boards and dished four assists for the Hokies. Ty Outlaw scored 14 and Alexander-Walker added 12 for Va. Tech. The Hokies hit 11 3-pointers against Miami.

Sophomore sixth man Kabengele leads FSU with 13.1 points per game with Terance Mann second with 11.5.

FSU's calling card is its experience, with five seniors who either start or get significant minutes.

The winner of Thursday's game will meet the winner of Virginia-N.C. State in Friday's semifinals.

--Field Level Media