The senior must have a decent threshold for pain because an icky stomach didn’t stop him from scoring 20 points as the Seminoles knocked down a season-high 16 three-point baskets en route to an 85-61 Atlantic Coast Conference victory against Maryland Sunday night.
The Seminoles were 16 of 24 from behind the arc after hitting 10 in the previous four games combined. The 16 3-pointers were the third-most in school history and the most by Florida State in ACC play. Okaro White scored 15 and Aaron Thomas finished with 14. Montay Brandon added 13 points and eight rebounds.
“We had just a good day of ball movement, period, and wide-open shots and finding open people,” Miller said. “We’re a good shooting team in practice. … We know in the game we’ve got to create wide-open shots for each other so we can hit the same percentages. Tonight we did that.
“I don’t think we had a game where we had a lot of wide-open shots like that this season.”
Dez Wells led Maryland with 15 points while Nick Faust added 14. The Terps began the day as the No. 3 three-point shooting team in the ACC but went 3-for-18 from behind the arc and made 17 of 51 (33.3 percent) field goals.
Sunday was the last time Maryland (10-7, 2-2) will play at Florida State (11-4, 2-1) before joining the Big Ten next season.
The Seminoles entered the game shooting 31.2 percent from three-point range and ranked No. 13 in the ACC. That team was nowhere to be found as Florida State hit 9-of-12 attempts in the first half.
Devin Bookert struck first with the game’s opening three points from the left wing. Then it became the White and Miller show during a 20-4 run where Florida State took a 37-19 lead.
“Anytime you have a player who’s kind of in that zone, it lifts the spirits of everyone else up,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “I knew we were shooting the ball well, but I know the game can change quickly. You can’t get too high when things are going good. A 15-18 point lead can leave you very fast in the ACC.
“There are no upsets, there no surprises in the ACC. … It’s a competitive league and anything is capable of happening on any night.”
Bookert ended a Maryland 7-0 run that left the Terrapins trailing 17-15 with a triple from the right bend. White scored the next five with a strong left-handed lay-up off a dribble-drive then knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing. Miller followed with a long-range bucket from the top of the key on the next possession and hit another 3-pointer from the wing for Florida State’s next points. White, Miller and Thomas took turns for the next three before it was Miller’s turn again.
That was six consecutive three-point baskets for the Seminoles. They were 1-for-11 against Clemson three days ago.
“Any coach in our league will tell you – you want Florida State shooting jump shots over a hand,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. “They made them tonight.
“You get pissed because they haven’t made threes all year.”
Florida State’s Brandon Allen entered late in the game and played just two minutes, but hit the record-setting 3-pointer.
Maryland never recovered from its ice-cold start combined with Florida State’s effort from behind the arc. The Terps attacked the rim but had consistent trouble with 7-footers Boris Bojanovsky and Michael Ojo. The Seminoles blocked seven shots.
“We knew they were a great three-point shooting team,” White said. “So we tried to run them off the three-point line and make those guys shoot over our big guys. It worked out for us tonight.”