GAME NOTES: Hoping to recover from consecutive road losses, the Florida State Seminoles return home to take on the NC State Wolfpack in an Atlantic Coast Conference clash at Donald L. Tucker Center.

Florida State went on the road to Syracuse and Pittsburgh in the team's last two contests, and dropped them both, 70-57 and 72-64, respectively. Now the Seminoles return home to where they are 8-4, but they know they need to improve their 1-3 ACC record.

After a hot start to the 2014-15 season, NC State has cooled off a bit in the last five games. The Wolfpack are 2-3 in that span, with a most recent defeat at the hands of North Carolina, 81-79, which came right after the team's upset victory over Duke. NC State is 3-1 in conference play, however.

The Wolfpack own the all-time series advantage over Florida State, 29-22, and took the only meeting between the sides last year with a 74-70 victory in Raleigh.

NC State was riding a wave of momentum after taking down Duke last Sunday. The Wolfpack almost carried that over the Tar Heels on Wednesday, but a second- half comeback attempt fell just short in the two-point defeat. Ralston Turner contributed 20 points to lead the Wolfpack in scoring before he fouled out of the contest. Trevor Lacey finished with 19 points, connecting on a perfect 10- of-10 from the free-throw line. Kyle Washington added 17 points to round out the group of double-digit scorers for NC State in the loss.

Lacey, the Alabama transfer, has had a stellar first season with NC State, as he enters Saturday's clash sporting the team's best scoring average at 17.1 ppg - good for the fourth-best average in the conference. Lacey has been an all-around player, owning a 4.6 rpg mark with 55 assists, which is second on the team. Turner comes in at second on the squad with 13.7 ppg, and Anthony Barber closes out a trio of double-figure scorers for NC State at 11.0 ppg. As a unit, the Wolfpack are netting 72.7 ppg this season on 46.2 percent shooting, and are allowing opponents to net only 64.2 ppg against them. Lennard Freeman is NC State's leading rebounder at 6.2 boards per outing.

The absence of scoring threat Aaron Thomas for Florida State due to eligibility reasons has been widely noticed. Florida State has pieced together some strong performances from several role players, but couldn't get the job done on Wednesday against Pittsburgh in the nine-point road loss. Phil Cofer tallied a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds in his starting role, while Devon Bookert added 13 points and Montay Brandon chipped in with 12 points. The Seminoles made only 8-of-17 from the free-throw line in the defeat.

Thomas played in only six games before he was deemed ineligible, so the Seminoles are heavily missing his 14.8 ppg average. In the meantime, Brandon has paced the team with a 13.1 ppg mark, followed by Xavier Rathan-Mayes's 12.3 ppg and Bookert's 10.2 ppg. Florida State is managing 69.6 ppg on 46.9 percent shooting, but has surrendered 68.6 ppg to opponents in the same span - second to last in the ACC. Cofer has put forth a strong rebounding effort in 17 games and eight starts, averaging 5.2 rpg. Rathan-Mayes had dished out a team-best 71 assists for the Seminoles.

After a rough two-game road swing, the Seminoles will be feeling much better in front of their home crowd on Saturday. But NC State's up-tempo offense, led by Lacey and Turner, could pose some serious problems for a porous Florida State defense. NC State could easily be 2-0 against both Duke and UNC, which means Florida State should have some concerns.