FSU basketball: Noles look for second straight win against Siena

FSU basketball (1-4) will look for their second win of the season when they take on Siena (2-2) in the ESPN Events Invitational.

The game will begin at 11 a.m. Thursday morning before most of us stuffs our face full of food. The Noles finally got into the winner’s bracket in their last outing against Mercer, stopping a four-game skid to open the season.

Siena comes into the game off a 10-point loss against Harvard. ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Noles an 82 percent chance to win the game.

Siena leads FSU in most statistical categories like points per game, rebounds, shooting percentage, free throw percentage, and three-point shooting, but they turn the ball over 16 times per game on average, which is much fewer than the Noles.

FSU had big games from Cam’Ron Fletcher, Matthew Cleveland, Caleb Mills, and Naheem McLeod in this last outing. The Noles shot well from the field, free-throw line, and three-point line and only turned the ball over seven times.

Siena has a trio of players averaging double figures, with one being Andrew Platek, a transfer from North Carolina. Siena shoots the three-pointer well, averaging 41.5 percent while shooting 47 percent from the floor.

FSU will need to defend the three-point line and clean up on the defensive boards to prevent Siena from securing second-chance possessions.

The Noles have opened big first-half leads in the last two games only to see them evaporate mid-way through the second half. Leonard Hamilton played 10 guys in the last game, with seven playing 10+ minutes.

The team has shown some flashes of improvement in the last two games. Here’s to hoping they have started to develop a rotation and chemistry since the team’s makeup consists of a lot of youth and inexperience.

A win against Siena would be nice, with No. 24 Purdue on deck in their next matchup.