FSU Basketball Weekly Preview: November 20th-26th

Here’s a preview of FSU basketball and their next week of games during the 2017-18 basketball season as they return home for two games.

From the beautiful hills of Tallahassee to the beautiful beaches of Jamaica, it was a good week for the FSU basketball team as they started off the season with three straight wins, including two away from the Tucker Center – something the Seminoles had a hard time doing for much of last season.

While the following week will be a holiday for many, including students on campus, the Noles will still be hard at work with two games that on paper should be ones they can win easily – but nonetheless games that head coach Leonard Hamilton does not want to overlook as the team attempts to get back to the NCAA tournament for a second straight year and before two straight road games that could go a way to seeing how far this team can go this season.

Florida State Seminoles Basketball

Here’s our recap of last week’s action and a preview of this week’s games for the Seminoles.

Last Week Recap

The season kicked off for FSU basketball last Tuesday when they welcomed the George Washington Colonials to town after beating them easily in our nation’s capital last season. Florida State got out to a big start, led by big man Christ Koumadje and the combination of Terance Mann in the backcourt and Phil Cofer at forward to withstand a comeback effort, handing GW a 87-67 loss.

Last Friday, the Seminoles played the first of two games in Jamaica against a Fordham Rams team who was no real match for the Noles. Mann had 14 points while Mfiondu Kabengele came off the bench to drop a team high 15 points as FSU basketball rolled to a 67-43 win.

In their second game away from home last Sunday against the Colorado State Rams, the Seminoles got 22 points from freshman M.J. Walker and added 20 more from Mann as they took home the inaugural Jamaica Classic title.

Opponents Preview

Wednesday, the Seminoles will welcome Kennesaw State to town for an afternoon game inside the Tucker Center in the first ever game between the schools. The Owls enter with a 1-3 record, losing their first two games at Butler and at Hofstra before winning their home opener against Piedmont last Thursday before losing on the road Saturday at Tennessee Tech.

Friday, the Noles will give Black Friday shoppers a welcomed break when they host The Citadel for a nighttime affair. The Bulldogs enter the week with a 2-2 record and will host Trinity Baptist on Tuesday before heading to Tallahassee for the holidays, where they will play Florida State for the 11^th time and are looking for their first win over the Noles since 1961.

Next: Three takeaways from FSU's schedule in 2017-18

Interesting Fact

It’s not as big a deal early in the season, but an area of concern for FSU basketball has to be the early struggles when it comes to their three point shooting. After going 8 for 21 in the opener and a combined 14-47 in Jamaica, the Seminoles are shooting just 32 percent from the field at this point in the year. With games against Florida and the ACC slate coming up, that is not going to cut it.