FSU 74 N Ky 62 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good
Florida State starts off the season on a positive note beating a team picked to finish third in the Horizon conference and has the talent to make it to the NCAA tournament. Once the Seminoles built a double digit lead, the Norse never did get it to below ten. Overall the 'Noles controlled the game throughout and handled N Kentucky's match up zone defense, a defense Taylor Bol Bowen called "gimmicky", such as how they rotate or how they pick up players coming up the floor. In past years, FSU has really struggled against match up zones and off the wall systems like what the Norse run. Not tonight as FSU was able to penetrate and score. 44 points in the paint as a matter of fact, something you might not expect from a team that has ten new faces on the bench, Length and depth, aspects that are typical of a Leonard Hamilton team, showed up in this game on both ends of the floor.
FSU was far more physical and showed far more effort than we saw much of last season.
Depth. Hamilton played eleven. He felt he probably could have played a couple of players even more minutes than he did.
Defense. Deflections galore (50 of them) caused 22 turnovers ( including14 steals) by the Norse leading to 22 points for the 'Noles. The Seminoles defense several times held N Ky to multiple minute scoreless streaks.
FT shooting, 14-18 (78%).
The second unit that showed some nice defense midway through the first half.
Coming into the game, Jamir Watkins had scored in double digits in 19 straight games. Make that 20 straight games as Watkins scored 17.
Bol Bowen with a career high 17 points (15 in the first half) along with 6 rebounds and 7 of 7 from the line.
Other notable newcomers who impressed. Daquan Davis, Jerry Deng, and Bostyn Holt.
Plays of the game: The 13-1 run to give FSU an 18-11 lead. FSU shooting 9-11 in a stretch while holding the Norse without a point for more than four minutes. Bol Bowen with the deflection to Holt who found Watkins for the slam on the fast break. Chandler Jackson with a nice floater off the Watkins assist. Holt with the dribble drive step back floater, 45-33.
The Bad
While praising his team's effort, Hamilton as you would expect felt there were many things to improve on such as some questionable passes. Rebounding. Sealing off. Things like that. .
The 8-0 Norse run giving them a 10-5 lead.
The couple of occasions that the defense did not pick up the shooter in transition.
The 1-7 start to the second half. However they compensated with defense holding the Norse to just one basket over that span.
Malik Ewin 0-6 from the floor. As Hamilton said post game, we all know he is a better player than that.
The Ugly
3 point shooting or lack thereof. 4-22. That's 18% for those of you keeping score at home. We of course got the standard and stock line that they shoot the three well in practice. I'll believe it when I see it.
ESPN' and its gametracker and box score function. To say that it was having its issues keeping up with the game and displaying the correct numbers would be a huge understatement. They finally caught up with the actual numbers after the game was over. And it wasn't just our game.
Up Next
FSU travels to Houston to face the Rice Owls on Saturday night with tip off at 7 PM. It will be aired on ESPN+. What with the football game vs ND kicking off at 7:30 and the 'Noles 25.5 point underdogs, it might be worth it to watch the basketball team. It would done in plenty of time to flip over once it is done in time to see how many touchdowns the Seminoles are trailing by that time.
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