Men’s Basketball cruises in exhibition

Florida State got their exhibition season off to a comfortable start with an 81-38 victory over Division II Delta State on Tuesday evening at the Donald L. Tucker Center. The game was played with proceeds going to benefit the Aubrey Boyd Charitable Foundation, which was set up for former Seminole Aubrey Boyd who was paralyzed following his career at Florida State.

“Overall, I think we showed strengths and I think we showed a lot of room for improvement,” Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton said. “I think this team has a lot of potential to develop into a good basketball team. I like our potential, but we realize we have a lot of room for improvement.”

In a game where the Seminoles never trailed as they found themselves up by 10 midway through the first half, then up by 20 heading into the locker room at the half, and eventually up by as many as 42 points in the second half thanks to a 25-5 run out of the locker room. Offensively, they utilized an up-tempo attack to create numerous easy buckets. While it created a number of easy opportunities, overall Florida State struggled some from the field. They shot 34-for-77 (44.2%) from the field, but only 7-for-25 (28%) from deep. They were 6-of-8 (75%) from the charity stripe.

“That has been our goal to work on, a more up-tempo style all summer,” sophomore guard Luke Loucks said. “We got out here, got the ball out pretty fast, and tried to take quick shots but smart shots at the same time. We didn’t want to just throw the ball at the rim every time. We felt pretty good about it though.”

Defensively, the Seminoles employed pressure throughout the evening helping to force 26 turnovers, which they scored 33 points off of. Sophomore forward Chris Singleton led the defensive charge with four steals.

On the boards, Florida State held a dominating 50-36 advantage, led by nine rebounds by junior wing Jordan DeMercy. Overall, Hamilton was pleased with their first time out.

“I thought that we gave pretty good effort on the defensive end. We were very active, got a lot of deflections which I was very pleased to see,” Hamilton said. “However, I think we were a little anxious offensively. I think we are a much better field goal percentage team than what we showed tonight, but that is why I like playing exhibition games in front of the public. I think that is part of the growth pattern of the preseason to get in front of crowds, officials. It gives you an opportunity to get over that.”

Sophomore center Solomon Alabi led all scorers, finishing with 16 points. The only other Seminole to score in double figures was sophomore guard Deividas Dulkys, who contributed 10 points. Junior guard Derwin Kitchen, sophomore guard Luke Loucks, sophomore forward Xavier Gibson, and freshman forward Terrance Shannon each contributed eight points. Shannon also had eight rebounds in his debut.

Throughout the evening, Florida State routinely used mass substitutions to try out different lineups. No Seminole played more than 22 minutes and 11 Seminoles played 14 or more minutes in the victory.

“We are so far away from developing a working unit, a rotation, maybe even a starting lineup because we have so many guys that appear to be close,” Hamilton said. “So we just wanted to use this as a glorified practice. Get guys minutes so we can watch them on film and go back and show them and use it as a teaching tool that will hopefully accelerate our development.

When the final whistle had blown, Hamilton was pleased with what his team showed and believes they are a bit ahead of where they were at this point last year.

“I would love to be farther along, but you still have to be conscious of the fact that we have eight freshmen and sophomores,” Hamilton said. “Even though we like the potential, we still have to fine tune it. We are probably a little farther along than we were this time last year, but like I said earlier, this is a time for developing and not a time to really evaluate.”

His feelings were echoed by Alabi, who had six rebounds and three blocks in addition to his 16 points.

“I think we did alright, but we still need to work on a lot of stuff,” Alabi said. “The exhibition game was something that we needed to see how much we need to work on and to see how hard we worked.”

Florida State returns to the court next Monday when they host Georgetown (KY) in their second and final exhibition game. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. at the Donald L. Tucker Center. The Seminoles regular season begins on November 16th when they host the Jacksonville Dolphins.

Freshmen unveiled

Shannon, as well as fellow freshman, guard Michael Snaer made their debut this evening. Shannon contributed eight points and eight boards while Snaer struggled shooting and was only able to contribute five points and four rebounds offensively, but did show Hamilton something with his defense.

“I think it was a little emotional for them. I thought they got a little stiff early,” Hamilton said. “Terrance was extremely aggressive like he normally is. I think he got tired really quick, but that is part anxiety, just the inexperience and excitement of the first game. I thought that Michael was a little tight, obviously. He is a much better shooter and scorer than what he showed, but that is why you have these games. I thought he did some nice things. I thought he did a very good job of pressuring the ball.”

As for Snaer, who went only 2-for-9 from the field, his teammates still hold confidence in him due to what he has shown them throughout preseason practices.

“He was a little tight and a little anxious,” Loucks said. “We just told him to get all those misses out now because we are going to you when Jacksonville rolls around. He will be fine. He just had the freshmen jitters. He will wake up. We have all seen in practice what he can do and I am sure the fans will get a good look when the season finally rolls around.”

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