The Florida State women’s basketball team had quite the week.
Entering last weekend’s home game vs. Notre Dame, the Seminoles were 10-10 and 4-6 in the ACC with all four wins coming against teams that are a combined 5-34 in conference play.
They had no ranked wins and a rough resume when it comes to postseason consideration.
Seven days later with a home win over No. 19 Notre Dame and a road win at Duke, things have changed for the Seminoles.
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FSU (12-10, 6-6 in ACC) is up to 50 in the NET Rankings entering this weekend, looking poised to make a run at another NCAA Tournament appearance. It will look to continue that momentum Sunday at noon when it takes on rival Miami (12-10, 5-7) at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla.
For FSU, it is also a chance at revenge. The Hurricanes won 59-52 in Tallahassee back on Jan. 30. FSU leads the all-time series 48-17 and has won 15 of the last 19 games against UM.
Defense leads the way
Improved defensive intensity has definitely been the calling card of the Seminoles’ recent turnaround.
In the win over Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish scored a season-worst 65 points at FSU.
In FSU’s win at Duke, the Blue Devils shot just 31.8% from the floor, well below their 43% shooting percentage on the season entering Thursday’s game.
The Seminoles also did well to take away their opponent’s best options in each of their two recent wins. Most recently, FSU held Duke leading scorer Shayeann Day-Wilson to five points on 1 of 11 shooting.
Against Miami, FSU will now be tasked with limiting what redshirt senior guard Kelsey Marshall is able to do. Marshall enters the second FSU game averaging 14 points per game and having scored in double-figures in each of the last nine games.
Puisis shooting the lights out
Since the calendar turned to 2022, FSU junior guard Sammie Puisis’ three-point shooting has taken a significant turn for the better.
Puisis has made 17 of her 36 three-pointers since 2022 began (47.2%), making at least one in each of FSU’s nine games so far this year.
That’s a stark contrast to her 30.2% three-point percentage in 12 games this season before the start of the new year. She’s already made more threes in 2022 games than she did in 2021 games this season and has done so on 17 fewer attempts.
Her improvement is in line with FSU’s three-point improvement as a team over a similar stretch. FSU’s 30.3% three-point percentage this season is 11th out of 15 among ACC teams. However, FSU has been shooting 33.8% from outside the arc in games since it became 2022, which would rank fourth among ACC teams projected over the entire season.
Florida State at Miami
When: Sunday, noon
Where: Watsco Center, Coral Gables, Fla.
TV/Radio: ACC Network/96.5FM
Reach Curt Weiler at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @CurtMWeiler.
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