Florida State men’s basketball (14-13, 7-7) will look to sweep its season series against archrival Miami (21-6, 10-4) in a late-night clash on Tuesday night, hoping to take one more step towards finishing the regular season strong.

The Seminoles and Hurricanes each held up their end of the bargain to create one of the most anticipated games of this rivalry in recent years. Florida State turned around its season with an upset win in Coral Gables a little over a month ago and has won seven of its last nine games since then. On the other side, UM’s defeat clearly was a wake-up call for Jai Lucas’ team and Miami has won six of eight since the loss to FSU, including an upset win over North Carolina. Joe Lunardi currently slots the Canes as an eight seed in his latest bracketology prediction.

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Besides the usual implications of an FSU-Miami matchup, Tuesday provides rookie head coach Luke Loucks another opportunity to drum up fan support and sustain his program’s momentum. Loucks got creative to fill the seats against Virginia a few weeks ago, offering to pay for the first 500 beers for students, but unfortunately, that contest slipped away from the Seminoles. Now, Florida State announced the student section was sold out for tonight’s game, and a win can galvanize students and alumni alike into the latter portion of the season and into the offseason. The Noles can also push their win streak against Miami to seven with a victory.

Florida State is a 2.5-point underdog according to FanDuel, with the over/under set at 153.5.

Florida State Seminoles vs. Miami Hurricanes: How to watch, stream, oddsDate

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With their in-season turnaround, the Seminoles are no longer on the cut line for the ACC tournament and can now look around at seeding possibilities. Florida State is .500 in conference for the first time this season, heading into Tuesday, and currently sits No. 9 in the ACC standings. However, it will be difficult for the Noles to climb the rankings as they are a game back of SMU and 1.5 games back against Louisville. Florida State ends the year with a home game against the Mustangs.

Tonight’s game should be a rock fight that goes down to the wire. In its last three games, Miami is 2-1, with no game decided by more than 4 points and a point differential of -1. Florida State has also played nail-biters this season, including six in-conference games decided by one possession.

Along those lines, the Hurricanes do an excellent job inside the paint, and that is where tonight’s game will be won. Miami ranks 15th in the country in rebound margin, 37th in D1 in effective field-goal percentage and 73rd in steals per game. The Hurricanes’ roster has four players averaging 4.0 rebounds per game or more, including Ernest Udah Jr., who averages 9.5 a night.

Players to know:

G Tre Donaldson: Donaldson, a Tallahassee native, has certainly circled this game on the calendar with a chance to play in his hometown and atone for his rare off night in the first matchup against FSU, where he scored 11 points on 5-14 shooting. The Michigan transfer is second on UM in scoring, averaging 16.4 points per game, along with 45%/33%/77% shooting splits. Donaldson runs the offense for the ‘Canes, and slowing him down will be priority #1 for Luke Loucks.

F Malik Reneau: Reneau, a transfer from Indiana, has been everything the Hurricanes could have hoped for out of the portal. The senior forward paces the Hurricanes in points per game with 19.5 on 56% shooting from the floor. However, with a 6’9” frame, Reneau affects the game with more than just scoring, and gobbles up 6.4 rebounds per game, second on the team, while averaging just over two assists a night. Reneau only played 23 minutes against Virginia Tech, Miami’s last game, and had his only single-digit game of the year, so his health may be a question mark as the game unfolds.