Florida State men's basketball: Seminoles hosting Louisville on Saturday, adjusting to a new injury

The injury woes for the Florida State men's basketball team keep on piling up.

The Seminoles announced earlier this week that forward Cam’Ron Fletcher will miss the rest of the season following a right knee injury sustained in the second half against Virginia.

Fletcher is set to become the sixth scholarship player to miss time this season, joining Naheem McLeod, Chandler Jackson, Jeremiah Bembry, Jaylan Gainey, De’Ante Green and Baba Miller.

FSU (1-9, 0-1 ACC) seemed to be picking up some momentum with closer-than-expected losses to No. 4 Purdue (79-69) and No. 3 Virginia (62-57). But it will now look to adjust again when it hosts a struggling Louisville (0-8, 0-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Donald L. Tucker Civic Center in the ACC home opener.

The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.

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Fletcher was averaging 10.8 points per game and led FSU with an average of 7.5 rebounds per game.

Now the team will have to adjust to playing smaller, with Gainey (knee) also out for the season and Miller (suspension) out for the first 16 games.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said he expects his offense to be more about attacking the rim, while the rebounding will have to be a collective effort on the board, starting with boxing out.

"We're trying to adjust to doing things a little differently now that we are without Cam Fletcher, who has probably been one of the most active guys on the boards and one of my most energetic," Hamilton said. "We are a lot smaller without Gainey, Baba and Cam. Now we've become more perimeter orientated. And so that's pretty much who we are. We trying to get obviously, our inside game going a little better."

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Freshman time

De'Ante Green, a freshman from Asheville, N.C., might be given a bigger role moving forward. He has played 28 minutes across six games this season, scoring a season-high of seven points in as many minutes against Nebraska.

"We're probably gonna have to play on De'Ante Green, a little bit but at the five which we hadn't planned on doing that, but that's where we are now and we're gonna be ready to go come Saturday," Hamilton said.

"He's only had about five or six practices and he's still learning and growing in our system."

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Cardinal struggles

As rough as the season has been for the Seminoles, the struggles for Louisville have been worse. In the first season under Kenny Payne, the Cardinals enter the month of December still seeking their first win of the season.

Following three one-point losses to Bellarmine, Wright State and Appalachian to open the season, Louisville was outscored 231-to-154 in the Maui Invitational by Arkansas, Texas Tech and Cincinnati. The Cardinals have followed that up with losses of 25 and 27 to Maryland and Miami at home in back-to-back games.

That marks the first time in program history to suffer back-to-back home losses by 25 or more points.

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Player to watch: El Ellis

The guard is the leading scorer and the only player to average double-figure points for the Cardinals with 15.6 points per game to go along with 3.4 assists per game. He has sometimes struggled to shoot from the field, posting a 36.7 shooting percentage and just 30% from 3-point range.

Ellis scored 29 points twice this season in losses to Appalachian State and Wright State. He is coming off a 1-for-10 shooting performance with seven points against Miami in an 80-53 loss at home on Sunday.

Last season against FSU, he scored 14 points in the 79-70 loss.

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History

Saturday will be the 51st all-time meeting between the Cardinals and Seminoles, with Louisville leading the series 34-16.

The last matchup was also in Tallahassee, on Jan. 8, 2022, with the Seminoles winning 79-70.

GAME INFORMATION

Who: Florida State vs. Louisville

When/Where: Saturday, 1 p.m.; Donald L. Tucker Civic Center

TV: ACC Network

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU men's basketball: Seminoles hosting Louisville on Saturday