TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- No. 21 Florida State ended its non-conference schedule at 12-1 and with eight straight wins, but head coach Leonard Hamilton had a sobering message for his guys following their 78-68 victory against Samford on Monday.

Play time is over.

Florida State, which is enjoying its best start since the 2003-04 season, now has just over a week off to prepare for its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule -- which begins Dec. 28 at home against Wake Forest -- and Hamilton said this may just be the best the conference has been in his 15 years with the Seminoles.

"I don't think we've seen anything like what's getting ready to happen," said Hamilton, whose team was led by guard Terance Mann's 19 points Monday. "This is a great conference that's (somehow) gotten better. And when I look at our schedule, after Wake Forest, we could very well play five of our next six games against Top 25 teams the way they're ranked now. We're going to have to be at our very best."

Florida State started the day ranked No. 23, but about an hour after the Seminoles found out they'd moved up to No. 21 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, they defended their ranking against a scrappy Samford squad with a hard-fought win.

Much of the credit for that goes to Mann, who went 7 of 8 from the floor and also added five rebounds in the win.

"Terance ... he's our glue guy. He does all the little things, offensively and defensively," said Florida State point guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who contributed 15 points, four rebounds and five assists in the win. "He's our guy. He does everything for us, and (this year) we're counting on him for that."

It's a good thing for Florida State that Mann came through once again Monday, because Samford (7-4) pushed the Seminoles to their limits.

Florida State, which came in as huge favorites, led just 31-27 at halftime and had more trouble than expected in putting away the Bulldogs. Samford, which saw its four-game win streak snapped Monday, tested Florida State with a pair of talented Division I transfers and a game plan that was made up of one play.

Yup, you read that right: one play.

"You see this play card?" Samford coach Scott Padgett asked reporters after the game, before adding: "It has about 150 plays on it. I only used one today: pick and roll. You can't throw the ball to the wings because they defend it so well, and it's a turnover. So (pick and roll all game) -- that was our game plan. We had 14 turnovers against a team as good as this, and that's about as good as could hope for."

The Bulldogs were paced by guard Christen Cunningham with 16 points and also got 14 points from former Massachusetts guard Demetrius Denzel-Dyson. One of Samford's other Division I transfers, former Auburn forward Alex Thompson, finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Guard Josh Sharkey chipped in 10 points, seven assists and three steals.

Padgett said he thought his team might just be able to catch Florida State slipping Monday for a variety of reasons.

"I thought we had a real chance, that there were some things in our favor," Padgett said. "We had a chance to see the game film of (Florida State's win Saturday against Manhattan), playing exactly how we play. I also had a feeling there wasn't going to be the best crowd, you know, with school being out and it being a 2 o'clock game -- it was a weird time. And I'm not sure how many guys on Florida State's team even where Samford is (located), so we had some things in our favor.

"As (former NFL coach) Herm Edwards said, 'You play to win the game.' We didn't come in here looking to work on Samford's zone-press."

Sophomore guard Dwayne Bacon, the Seminoles' leading scorer on the season, extended his double-figure scoring streak to 22 games with 14 points. Bacon, stuck at nine points since early in the second half, needed a jump shot with just under two minutes left to get there. Bacon also led Florida State on the glass with six boards.

The Seminoles' defense, meanwhile, did a stellar job shutting down Samford star center Wyatt Walker, who came into the game ranked second in the nation in double-doubles with eight.

Wyatt was held to just four points on 2-of-4 shooting and eight rebounds in the loss, which extended Samford's futility against Florida State to 66 years. The Bulldogs have still never defeated Florida State, which improved to 12-0 all-time in the series that began in 1950.

Mann said afterward that while it may seem like the Seminoles were looking forward to their upcoming break, they weren't.

"We wish we could keep playing," Mann said. "We're rolling right now."

Florida State shot out of the locker room in the second half with a 6-0 run and quickly grabbed a double-digit lead. That margin grew to as many as 17 points with six minutes to play. The Bulldogs closed the gap to seven points with just under four minutes remaining in the game on a 3-pointer by Thompson, but Samford never got any closer.

Part of the reason the Bulldogs stayed in it was free-throwing shooting. Samford finished 11 of 12 from the line, while Florida State's 3-point shooting struggling, finishing 6 of 22.

The Seminoles came out sluggish and grabbed a 14-10 lead in the first six minutes, but then went almost four minutes without scoring, allowing the Bulldogs to not only creep back but take a lead.

That came at 19-18 when guard Triston Chambers, who finished with nine points, drilled a 3-pointer with just under six minutes left before intermission.

The two teams traded leads heading into halftime, but Samford pulled ahead 27-26 with just under two minutes to go. That, however, would be the Bulldogs' last lead.

Rathan-Mayes breathed a sigh of relief after this one, saying he knows the seasons consists of three parts -- and a great Part 1 was officially in the books.

"There's three seasons (in college basketball), and that's how we're looking at it," he said. "There's our non-conference, our conference schedule and then the postseason. And I think we're in a good spot now as we get ready for ACC play."

Or as Hamilton said as he closed his press conference Monday, "Let's get this party started."

NOTES: The most recent meeting between Florida State and Samford before Monday was Dec. 2, 2007, a 61-45 Seminoles' victory. ... Bulldogs guard Josh Sharkey had three steals in the loss ... The Seminoles' win streak reached eight games Monday and is now two victories away from tying the longest of 10 straight wins in coach Leonard Hamilton's 15 years with the program. ... Florida State announced Monday that for the second year in a row it would host the "Coaching For Literacy Program" on Jan. 10 when it faces Duke.