FSU basketball: Noles to host Georgia in ACC/SEC challenge

FSU basketball will look to rebound from the worst season in the Leonard Hamilton era when the season begins in a few months. FSU only won nine games and will have several new faces on the roster in 2023-24.

They will be without leading scorer Matthew Cleveland, who transferred to rival Miami. Third-leading scorer Caleb Mills entered the transfer portal, but the Noles will get some firepower back. Cam’Ron Fletcher missed last season with an injury, and second-leading scorer Darin Green Jr. will return.

Baba Miller, who missed nearly half of the season due to a dumb NCAA suspension, will be a year older, and he’s playing well this summer in the FIBAU19 league. Freshman four-star forward Taylor Bowen will join the program, and Leonard Hamilton has three transfers joining the program.

The overall schedule hasn’t been released, but the games for the Inaugrual ACC/SEC Challenge were announced earlier Wednesday. The Noles will host the Georgia Bulldogs on November 29th at 9:15 p.m. ET in the Tucker Center.

Luckily, Georgia wasn’t much better than FSU basketball last season, finishing 16-16 and were 1-10 on the road. They lost to ACC opponents Wake Forest and Georgia Tech but defeated Notre Dame(FSU split with Notre Dame last year). The ACC/SEC Challenge will replace the ACC/B1G Challenge that took place from 1999-2002.

The ACC had a 13-8-2 advantage in the challenge, dominating it for the first 10 years before the B1G gained some ground in the latter years.

The ACC won the final challenge last season 8-6. FSU’s record in that challenge was 10-14, losing the last two games, granted those two losses were agaisnt the No. 5 and No. 2 ranked teams in the nation. Hopefully, FSU basketball can get things turned around and start off this new challenge with a win in front of the home crowd.