Florida State men's basketball is catching fire in Atlantic Coast Conference play after beating Notre Dame. And through a huge performance on Wiggins' birthday.
Florida State men's basketball is getting the hang of winning conference games now with alum Luke Loucks. This time by turning to sharpshooter Chauncey Wiggins on his born day.
The head coach has now guided four Atlantic Coast Conference wins -- this time watching Wiggins drop 22 in the thrilling 82-79 win Saturday.
The senior Wiggins delivered his production through 30 minutes of play. He hit 8-of-15 field goals including nailing five three-pointers.
He scored the first basket for FSU too -- swishing a 22-footer with 17:52 left in the first half. The 6-foot-10 forward wasn't through with getting hot behind the arc, nailing a 25-footer at the 15:58 mark.
But he also showed he can nail a basket with one hand...getting a five-foot hook shot inside the hoop with 14:44 left.
Wiggins was the only FSU player to score past the 20-point mark. But he really turned on the stardom with under two minutes left in the second half.
It's now the third straight game that Wiggins has led the Seminoles in scoring. Loucks is showing that he's trusting the elder statesman on the roster more. Especially in erasing the torrid start to ACC play.
Florida State started conference play with a dismal 0-5 record. Knocking off Miami became ACC win No. 1 of the Loucks era. But the Noles have now won three in a row -- all against teams in the conference.
They've won each game by a margin of eight points or less including stunning both Cal and Stanford -- two foes that are well above .500 in win-loss record.
This time they knocked off a Fighting Irish team that's now become one of the bottom dwellers of the ACC -- as ND lands at 2-9 overall in conference play while nearly matching FSU's overall record at 11-13.
Robert McCray V joined on the double-digit scoring end by hitting 15 points on the evening. Alex Steen nearly produced a double-double on his end in scoring 10 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Lajae Jones tacked on to the high production scoring end by delivering 11 points.
Now Florida State will have its most important ACC game to date in the Loucks era: No. 18 Virginia is next on deck for this suddenly surging team.
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