Christ Koumadje recalls that the pain in his foot began when Florida State was playing in the early November tournament in Jamaica.

Koumadje was soon forced to watch the Seminoles from the bench with a stress fracture in his foot. The junior center missed 11 games before returning to the court in Sunday’s 80-74 loss at Miami.

“It was tough because as a team we had been working all summer,” Koumadje said. “Coming into the season we had our goals. It was kind of a setback. But at the same time I could sit back, stay engaged with the team, watch film.”

Koumadje wore a boot in practices and was limited to shooting free throws, but he also was able to do some strength training on his upper body while he received treatment on his foot. He was cleared a few days before the Miami game and began to work on his conditioning.

The 7-foot-4 Koumadje played 13 minutes against Miami, scoring five points and pulling down eight rebounds (including six on the offensive end). But more importantly Koumadje didn’t feel any discomfort or swelling during or after the game.

“After I got warmed up, I was into the game,” Koumadje said. “It was normal, it was natural.”

With Koumadje back in the lineup, the Seminoles overwhelmed Miami on the boards 44-32 (including 21 offensive rebounds). FSU had previously lost the rebounding battle at Duke 53-35 and against UNC 41-37.

Koumadje will play his first home game since November on Wednesday night against Louisville, a team that is 20th in Division I in rebounding (40.7 per game).

“They’re very aggressive,” Koumadje said. “They rebound. They play inside-out. We have to do a pretty good job to keep them off the glass and match their intensity.”

Four in eight days: The early portion of the ACC schedule is as tough as it comes in league play with three games against top-15 teams. FSU (12-3, 1-2 ACC) was able to hold off the Tar Heels but the Seminoles played from behind most of the way against Miami in a road loss.

But that game at Miami was the start of another difficult stretch of four games in eight days. After Wednesday’s game against Louisville (11-4, 1-1), FSU will play host to Syracuse (12-4, 1-2) on Saturday before making a long road trip to play Boston College (11-5, 2-2) on Monday night.

“With four games in a short period of time we really need to be extremely focused during this stretch,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Even though we played three ranked, going from Sunday to Monday, playing four games is probably just as equally as challenging. We’re going to have to make sure that we manage our energy and our focus.”

Hamilton said he was disappointed with the team’s performance against Miami, saying "I thought we had a disconnect." He felt there was a lack of attention to detail and "we kind of stubbed our toe."

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