No. 12 Florida State won its 11th consecutive game Saturday afternoonwith a 93-78 result over No. 21 Virginia TechfromDonald L. Tucker Civic Center inTallahassee, Florida.Terance Mann dropped 22 points while shooting 7-of-11 from the floor with nine rebounds to lead the winning effort. Dwayne Bacon added 17 and a pair of steals on the day.That was enough to outduel Virginia Tech's duo of Chris Clarke and Zach LeDay, whose 22 and 19 points, respectively, accounted for half of the Hokies' scoring.They managed to stay close with Florida State for most of the game's first 10 minutes, but with the game tied at 20, the Seminoles outscored Virginia Tech 28-17 to build an 11-point halftime advantage.A lot of it had to do with Florida State's hot hand from the field.Not only did the Seminoles shoot just under 50 percent overall, but they also hit seven of 17 three-pointers for a 41.2 percent mark.PJ Savoy led the effort from long distance by posting a team-leading three makes from beyond the arc.Florida State kept its foot on the gas in the second half, as aggressive play not only opened up more offensive opportunities but got Virginia Tech into foul problems.It forced the Hokies defense to play more conservatively, allowing Florida State to settle into even more of an offensive groove to pad its lead and close out the comfortable win.This has been a remarkable start to Florida State's season considering this program won 20 games last year and just 17 the year before. At this pace, it will obliterate those marks.At 15-1, the 2016-17 Seminoles have already earned more wins than they compiled in 21 of 60 previous seasons, perSports-Reference.com.If they can keep this pace up, the Seminoles will make their first NCAA tournament in five years.But the most difficult stretch of Florida State's schedule is just on the horizon. In an 11-day stretch starting Tuesday, the Seminoles will meet No. 8 Duke, travel to Chapel Hill to face No. 14 North Carolina and then return home to face No. 23 Notre Dame and No. 9 Louisville in three days.If Florida State can play .500 basketball during that span, that would be quite an accomplishment. But if it wants to send a statement to the rest of the ACC and NCAA, a strong performance against these powerhouses will force the college basketball world to sit up and take notice.Postgame ReactionIt's the first time ever that Florida State has started 3-0 in ACC play, but head coach Leonard Hamilton is keeping his program grounded, via Joe Reedy of theAssociated Press(h/t theLedger Enquirer):In order for these games to mean something, we have to keep winning. There are a lot of positive things going on but no stretch do we feel like we are starting to get satisfied or feeling way too good.Bacon echoed those sentiments as his teammates will start preparing for a tough slate of conference games, via Reedy:It's definitely fun but with fun comes a lot of tests. We just have to put this win behind us because it's a win that we definitely needed. Get ready, starting tomorrow and prepare for Tuesday's game (against Duke).It's a mature, methodical way of looking at things at the collegiate level given the unprecedented success this program has been experiencing so far this year.
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