FSU basketball: Reaction to Noles blowout win over North Florida
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU basketball picked up where they left off from last season against North Florida.
The season opener for No. 22 FSU basketball (1-0, 0-0 ACC) was highly anticipated by Nole fans.
Leonard Hamilton’s Noles were one of the teams expected to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament before the coronavirus shut things down during ACC Tournament play.
The Noles return a lot of talent, along with one of the best freshmen in the nation with Scottie Barnes. Transfer Sardaar Calhoun and Quincy Ballard joined Barnes in the 2020 recruiting class with all seeing minutes Wednesday night.
The Noles jumped out early with aggressive defense, forcing 24 turnovers on the night while carrying a 15-point lead into halftime.
Senior MJ Walker led all scorers with 17 points, and Barnes chipped in with a great defensive effort along with eight points, six rebounds, and six assists.
It didn’t take long for him to create his first college highlight either:
America meet Scottie Barnes. He’s been fun to watch tonight. What an unbelievable move, he’s a 6-foot-9 guard and has been very good tonight. pic.twitter.com/Qh4x5kxwDO
— Jake (@jakeweingarten) December 3, 2020
Fan Reaction
Go ahead and give us the Natty 😌 https://t.co/IwkRPajUJh
— Keon Coleman Enthusiast (@ben_stana) December 3, 2020
Scottie Barnes got the knee highs. We’re really about to be back-to-back basketball national champions
— Slowdell Haggins 🎒 (@CSteph90) December 3, 2020
I would love to watch this game with a packed crowd. I'm not a huge basketball fan but I could see how that place packed could be awesome
— NC_AUCTIONEER (@seminolephin1) December 3, 2020
Calhoun is going to be good. #FSU #FSUHoops @FSUHoops
— Tynoles14 (@TylerHon14) December 3, 2020
This Noles team has the potential to be very very special. The defense is already there.
— USAFA Nole (@NolevellEra) December 3, 2020
FSU Basketball, I missed you so much.
— guac gma (@ashtonmiles33) December 3, 2020
This is gonna be a fun team to watch this season 🍢🏀 pic.twitter.com/m8fI9nfQIA
— Ashley Reamer (@Ashley_Caroline) December 3, 2020
So weird seeing FSU have an elite basketball team but I’m gonna enjoy it while it lasts.
— MadNole🍢 (@Madnole2) December 3, 2020
Thoughts
FSU basketball is going to be another deep Leonard Hamilton team as all the players on the team saw action Wednesday night. They played tough defense aside from a short stretch in the middle of the second-half where North Florida reigned down a few three-pointers.
I thought Balsa Koprivica played well and was a force around the basket. The Noles only had 10 turnovers(eight were in the first half), and they dominated on the boards as they should have.
They were solid at the free-throw line(aside from Scottie Barnes, who went 0-3) at 71 percent overall. They could have done better with field goal efficiency as the Noles missed too many shots around the rim. One thing I noticed was the team’s ability to answer North Florida’s run in the second-half. It was almost like they could hit another gear at the exact time they knew they needed to.
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It’ll be interesting to see if they’ll be able to do that against stiffer competition. We’ll find out next week when they take on Indiana for a chance to avenge one of last year’s losses.