The Florida State men's basketball team got off to a hot start to the regular season with a 112-69 win over the Florida A&M Rattlers. The Seminoles dominated from start to finish, leading the contest 54-27 heading into the half.
Coach Luke Loucks has a lot riding on the 2026-27 season after posting 10 ACC wins in his first season, which is the most by a first-year coach in program history. Loucks etched his name into the record books, but the coach will be the first one to admit that there was a lot left on the table in his first season with the program.
Loucks spent the offseason rebuilding nearly the entire roster with a healthy mix of transfers and high school recruits. The winning results in both exhibitions were a great thing to see, but the fact that those improvements have carried over into the first regular season game is a positive sign.
The Seminoles were able to handily defeat the Rattlers, who are coached by a Florida State legend on both the court and the gridiron. Coach Charlie Ward won a football National Championship, the Heisman Trophy, and started 16 basketball games during the 1993 season. Ward is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Florida Sports Hall of Fame.
With the win now officially, here are the four players who are the "buckets" of the game and one "brick" from the win.
Buckets:
1. F Sebastian Rancik
Much of the talk ahead of the season was focused on the likes of Marcis Ponder, Kam Taylor, and Anthony Robinson II, but the junior forward Rancik has begun to emerge. Rancik led the scoring efforts with 25 points while adding four rebounds and two assists. The forward did the majority of his damage at the rim, but also stretched the floor with two three-point buckets.
Rancik joined Florida State by way of Colorado, where he spent the past two seasons growing into a starter. The forward recorded 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and two assists per game last season while starting 26 games.
Rancik was impactful for Colorado last season, but his play style and tendencies looked a bit different at times. With Florida State, Rancik can use his quick first step to slash towards the basket more often with a true center like Ponder alongside him. The 6-foot-11 forward is like another guard on the court, given how he can attack the basket, and Florida A&M struggled to respond to his physicality.
2. C Marcis Ponder
It wasn't the most dominant performance we have seen out of Ponder through two exhibitions and one regular-season game now, but it didn't have to be. The massive center proved exactly why he is going to be an extreme part of this Florida State team, and it is due to his ability to convert gritty baskets and pull down rebounds consistently.
Last season, the Seminoles averaged 35.3 rebounds per game, which was good enough for 10th in the ACC. Florida State excelled with grabbing boards on offense, bringing down 11.5 per game (6th in ACC), which helped further fuel a talented offense. This season, Florida State has more serious rebounding threats like Ponder, Rancik, and even the guards who should be able to take the team to the next level.
Ponder finished the game against Florida A&M with a double-double, recording 15 points and 11 rebounds while also blocking a shot.
3. G Anthony Robinson II
After two exhibitions where the frontcourt dominated the scoring efforts, there didn't initially look like a clear role was present for Robinson. However, the guard made his mark against the Rattlers' defense and provided fans with a snippet of exactly what he is capable of doing. Robinson scored 16 points while adding eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
Robinson looked extremely comfortable shooting the basketball, nailing seven out of his ten attempts from the field, including one long-range bucket. The guard did a little bit of everything on offense for Florida State, but the area that could be really intriguing moving forward is his ability to make teams pay in transition.
Robinson is very quick with the basketball in his hands, and the Seminoles do not lack speed this season, meaning the team should be able to consistently outnumber opposing defenses in transition.
4. G Brandon Bass Jr.
As great as Ponder has been, he is not the only freshman on the roster, and it was only a matter of time before another makes their presence known. Bass did exactly that in his first regular-season game, scoring 13 points off the bench while adding two steals and a rebound.
Last season, Florida State had an issue with generating both offense and defense off the bench, with roughly 25.4 points per game coming from the backups. That totally fluctuated at times as Loucks experimented with the team and dealt with injuries, but Florida State should be much better from a depth production point of view this season. Bass led the charge off the bench as the Seminoles racked up 35 bench points.
Bass proved he can comfortably score, move the offense, and handle key defensive assignments without consistently being paired with some of the starters.
Bricks:
1. F Shon Abaev
After a very strong exhibition against LSU, where he dropped 26 points, the sophomore Abaev had a rough night from the field. Abaev converted three of his 12 shot attempts and was unable to sink a triple after three attempts. The forward made up for his struggles from the field with four rebounds, six assists, and three steals.
The reality is that Abaev made the most out of a bad situation, supporting the offense and putting together a strong defensive effort to cover his misses. It wasn't the greatest performance, but Abaev found a way to make himself effective for the Seminoles even without his best weapon available: his scoring expertise.
The only reason Abaev is considered the "brick" for the game is due to his shot selection during the game. Abaev struggled shooting the rock last season, nailing 33.5% of his attempts from the field and just 25.7% of his three-point attempts. The potential for improvement is certainly there; the guard just needs to find a way to avoid falling back into bad tendencies.
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