At roughly the midpoint of Florida State’s basketball season, the best lessons learned came as a result of a daunting schedule that delivered lopsided losses.
None of it was fun in the moment, not for the Seminoles, first-year coach Luke Loucks or fans watching. FSU lost by 36 to Texas A&M in Tampa, 34 to Georgia, 15 at Houston, 8 to UMass in Sunrise, Fla., and then 28 at Dayton. Aside from UMass, all of those teams are safe bets to be NCAA Tournament teams in March.
But it wasn’t just the lopsided losses. FSU wasn’t defending the lane or opponents’ perimeter shooting that well, allowing Texas A&M (95), Georgia (107), UMass (103) and Dayton (97) to put up massive point totals. The Seminoles reviewed the losses in the days after and saw their mistakes.
“From a personal standpoint, just watching film and seeing what we did badly at that five-game stretch, and just trying to learn from it. I think learning from film and time always helps with those things,” forward Chauncey Wiggins said. “We do look like a completely different team from now (compared to) that five-game stretch, but now we just have to keep going and do more to win some of these ACC games.”
The mistakes were often evident and effort-based upon reflection.
“One example is just me not rebounding or me not producing,” Wiggins said. “One time I didn't crack down and they got a wide-open dunk. It was in that five-game stretch. Those little things, really just controlling what you can control, and playing your role in doing your job, we fixed those things, and now we're just going to keep continuing to fix those.”
FSU (7-8, 0-2 ACC) is still seeking its first significant win, let alone a first ACC victory. The Seminoles aren’t taking pride in moral victories, but there’s a sense after the 91-87 loss to Duke a week ago that the team is playing at a far higher level and could be on the cusp of surprising a few ACC teams.
The metrics don’t exactly agree, with KenPom projecting FSU has a 28 percent chance to defeat NC State on Saturday (noon on ACC Network) and a 27 percent chance to win at Syracuse on Tuesday. But there are some roughly 50-50 games ahead, in KenPom’s view, including home games against Wake Forest, California and Stanford later in January.
Regardless of how KenPom views the future, the Seminoles have more confidence in each other and themselves after that five-game stretch. After 15 games, the team is more comfortable in its roles and the cohesion is strengthened through practices and games.
“After those losses, it’s a tough spot to be in,” guard Robert McCray said. “I don’t want to say we felt defeated. But you could just feel it a little bit. And now I would just say we believe now. We got our swag back. We got our confidence back. That’s the only difference, the way we approach the games now: We know we can win. We feel like we can win.”
NC State (11-5, 2-1 ACC) at FSU (7-8, 0-2)
Time: Saturday at noon
TV: ACC Network.
KenPom rankings: NC State is 33, FSU is 105.
Coaches: Luke Loucks and Will Wade are in their first years at their respective schools. Will Wade was LSU’s coach from 2017-22 before he was dismissed in a scandal. He then compiled a 50-9 record at McNeese State before moving to Raleigh this spring.
Streaks: NC State is coming off a 79-71 win at Boston College on Tuesday. FSU has had a week of rest after facing two of the league’s toughest ACC teams, at North Carolina (79-66) and vs. Duke (91-87).
Notable wins / losses: FSU’s “best losses” have come with narrow defeats at Florida and against Duke last Saturday. NC State has a Nov. 17 win over VCU at home and all five of its losses are to KenPom top-55 teams (Seton Hall, Texas, Auburn, Kansas and Virginia.
Of note: Robert McCray V is averaging 7 assists per game. … The Seminoles are averaging 83.9 points per game. … FSU made 12 3-pointers in the loss at UNC and 14 3-pointers in the loss to Duke, perhaps indications of improvement from beyond the arc at a 37.1 percent clip. … NC State shoots an impressive 38.9 percent from 3-point range.
FSU stats: McCray V leads FSU in scoring (13.4 points), followed by Chauncey Wiggins (12.3 points). Alex Steen (6.4 rebounds), Wiggins (4.8) and Lajae Jones (4.6) lead the Seminoles. Martin Somerville is averaging 9.4 points and leading the Seminoles in 3-point shooting (39.1 percent).
NC State stats: The Wolfpack are efficient from the line (75.7 percent), inside the arc (55.3 percent) as well as from 3-point range (38.9). They are 14th in the DI going into Friday’s games. NC State has a balanced attack led by 6-6 forward Darrion Williams (14.3 points), 6-5 guard Paul McNeil Jr. (13.6 points), 6-6 guard Quadir Copeland (13.8 points) and 6-9 forward Ven-Allen Lubin (12.7 points) lead NC State. The Wolfpack are averaging 70 points in their three ACC games.
Quotable: Wiggins played in the ACC at Clemson from 2022-25 and has shared some of his experience with his FSU teammates. “I just try to tell them we got to stay connected. Every road trip we go on, and every game that we have home, we have to stay connected because all these teams are good and they're going to make their runs, so we just got to keep staying connected.”
