GAME NOTES: The Florida State Seminoles play host to the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Monday night.

Nebraska had begun the season as a member of the Top-25, but a 66-62 overtime loss at Rhode Island on Nov. 22 dropped the team from that lofty perch. Since then however, the Cornhuskers have posted a pair of home wins over Nebraska Omaha (80-67) and Tennessee-Martin (75-64).

Florida State comes in at an even 3-3 on the young season, and the team has responded to a three-game losing streak from Nov. 18-23, by winning back-to- back bouts against The Citadel (66-55) and Charleston Southern (58-47). The Seminoles are 3-1 at home thus far.

This is only the second meeting between Nebraska and Florida State on the hardwood, and the first went to the Seminoles in a 74-60 final in the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Florida on Dec. 31, 2005.

In last Friday's win over UT-Martin, Walter Pitchford scored a career-high 19 points to pace the Huskers, while star guard Terran Petteway finished with 18 points and eight assists. Pitchford, a 6-foot-10 junior, drained 6-of-10 3- point attempts, with Petteway hitting another pair for a team that shot 47.3 percent from the field overall, which included a 43.5 percent showing from beyond the arc. A 34-25 edge on the glass also helped, as did the fact that the Skyhawks committed 18 turnovers off which Nebraska scored 20 points.

Petteway and Shavon Shields are both scoring at an accelerated rate for the Cornhuskers this season, netting 20.2 and 19.8 ppg, respectively. They also do their part on the boards, combining for 12.8 rpg. As a team, Nebraska is putting up 75.8 ppg while permitting 62.8 ppg, and the club is hitting 47.3 percent of its total shots and defending its basket by allowing only a 37.5 percent success rate to the opposition.

Florida State looked like anything but world beaters in its last outing against Charleston Southern, but the team did just enough to earn the victory as it played very well on defense. The Seminoles made good on only 37.2 percent of their field goal attempts, which included a dismal 2-of-16 performance from 3-point range, but they held the Buccaneers to just 29.6 percent field goal efficiency, yielding eight treys but on 31 attempts (.258). A sizable 24-7 edge in points from the foul line was the primary reason FSU was able to come out on top. Xavier Rathan-Mayes was the only player for the 'Noles to score in double figures, as he tallied 16 points.

For the season, Florida State is putting up 66.8 ppg behind typical shooting efforts of .466 overall, but only .221 from long range. The team's defensive prowess yields roughly the same number of points (66.5), with the enemy converting 36.5 percent of their 3-point tries. Aaron Thomas paces the unit with 14.0 ppg, while Rathan-Mayes and Montay Brandon turn in 13.8 and 12.5 ppg, respectively.

The Huskers are the more potent offensive team in this matchup, and they seem to be on a mission this season, despite the early hiccup. Expect them to win a tough road game and keep the momentum going as they look ahead to Big Ten play.