Coach Luke Loucks and the Florida State Seminoles are victorious in the first home game in the Tucker Center of the season. Earlier in the week, Florida State opened the season against Florida A&M in Tampa, but now Loucks has his first win of the year in front of a home crowd.
Last time out, Florida State defeated the Florida A&M Rattlers, 112-69, inside the Benchmark International Arena. The offense was fully clicking for the Seminoles, and the talented forward Sebastian Rancik led the way in the scoring department. Against the Troy Trojans, however, the team struggled to really pull away in the first half due to some problems shooting the ball.
The Seminoles led 37-26 heading into the half, but began to pull away from the Trojans late in the second after a barrage of free throws. Florida State was able to hold on and improve to 2-0 on the season after securing the win thanks to a strong offensive effort in the second half.
The Seminoles need to work the basketball inside more
This was a win defined by dominance when driving towards the basket and success across the board at the foul line. Everyone got in on the action as the Seminoles attempted 39 free throws against the Trojans. Troy had virtually no way of preventing Florida State from driving without fouling, and some of the top beneficiaries were Rancik and Kam Taylor.
Now, you obviously can't abandon the long ball, but Florida State attempted 28 three-point shots and only converted 25% of the time (7). Given the power the Seminoles can develop when attacking the basket, Loucks should continue to lean into this athletic offensive style.
The first half was a little concerning only because it felt like the team started to panic when the easy buckets were not falling. It is easier said than done, but when issues like that arise, the team needs to find a way to work the ball inside and even give the big man Marcis Ponder a couple of looks as well.
Ponder, who recorded a strong double-double against Troy, has mainly been on clean-up duty for the offense through two games. It should be interesting to see when Loucks is going to fully unleash the center moving forward.
Florida State's freshmen are playing like freshmen, and that is fine for now
It was bound to happen at some point, but Florida State finally showed its age against the Trojans during the win. Loucks opted to build the roster with a balanced mix of high school recruits and transfer portal additions rather than going heavy in the portal. That decision could give Loucks a chance to hold onto a couple of players for multiple seasons, which would be huge, but in the meantime, he needs to develop them.
There are going to be bumps and bruises that typically come with playing freshmen, and tonight was the first time the struggles were clear. Ponder, Martay Barnes, and Brandon Bass Jr. had a combined seven turnovers against the Trojans. Barnes also missed two open three-point buckets that would have been big on a night where the team was struggling with consistency from beyond the arc.
A win is a win, and the mistakes are harmless in the end since the Seminoles as a whole still put together a strong performance. Now is the time when mistakes generally are not that serious without conference implications, and the mistakes should be used to learn more than anything. However, the freshmen could learn a different lesson if there are costly mistakes made against Florida.
The Florida Gators clash is a complete toss-up at this point
Next time out, Florida State will play perhaps the most difficult game of the season against the Florida Gators in Tallahassee on November 10. Florida is widely considered to be the top team in the country this season, and the Seminoles have lost the last five meetings in a row. It is hard to judge based on two games, but since there were a few bumps against Troy, that makes predicting what the outcome will be even harder.
The Gators have had two gritty games so far this season, taking down No. 14 Miami and Jacksonville before facing the Seminoles. Florida State, on the other hand, has not faced the same level of competition yet this season. Although Troy could be a solid team in the Sun Belt Conference this season with the right improvements.
The reality is that Florida State needs to play like the team that defeated Florida A&M to have a chance at bringing down the Gators. Mistakes need to be limited, shots must be converted the first time, and the team cannot try to force something that is broken against Florida.
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