With the ACC opener in South Bend on the slate for Saturday, Florida State slowly seems to be turning a few corners. The Seminoles sit at just 4-4, but are beginning to see improvement in areas where they struggled to begin the year.
Florida State is coming off its best performance of the season on Saturday, which was a 96-73 drubbing of UCF. The Knights are hardly the stiffest competition the Seminoles will face especially considering the strength of the ACC, but things do seem to be headed in the right direction.
FSU set season-highs for points and margin of victory against UCF despite not getting a single point from Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who had led the Seminoles in scoring the previous four games coming in. Junior guard Aaron Thomas had his best game since returning from injury with 22 points while Montay Brandon added a career-high 23 points on 10-for-12 shooting.
Though he was held scoreless on Saturday, Rathan-Mayes gives the ‘Noles their best offensive weapon at the point guard position since Toney Douglas. The guard combination of Rathan-Mayes and Thomas could blossom into the best offensively for FSU since the days of Sam Cassell, Bob Sura and Charlie Ward.
The emergence of Rathan-Mayes, who was academically ineligible last season and the immense improvement of Brandon has given the Seminoles a very solid trio to work around. Brandon is easily the most improved player for Florida State. Brandon leads the team in field goal percentage, rebounding and minutes played and ranks second on the team in scoring and steals.
The biggest liability for Florida State throughout the early parts of the season has come inside. Freshman Phil Cofer and sophomore Jarquez Smith have given a very good effort for FSU this season, but the trio of 7-foot centers had been a disappointment.
Over the last two games, those disappointments are slowly turning things around. In last Monday’s 70-65 loss to Nebraska in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, 7’3″ junior Boris Bojanovsky became the first FSU player to record a double-double this season, going for 10 points and 10 rebounds.
In Saturday’s victory over UCF, senior Kiel Turpin scored in double-figures for the first time since the season-opener. After struggling on the glass throughout the early parts of the season, the Seminoles managed to hold a 42-25 edge in the rebounding department against UCF.
Saturday’s game against #25 Notre Dame should serve as a good measuring stick as to how far Florida State has come. Since falling behind by 16 in the first half against Nebraska, the Seminoles have put three very good halves of basketball together. The Fighting Irish’s Jerian Grant is one of the more underrated players in the ACC while his team leads the nation with a field goal percentage of greater than 56 percent. The Seminoles should be able to hold their own on the glass, but defensively, FSU has struggled against teams that can stretch the floor and Notre Dame is shooting 41 percent from deep.
At 4-4 early on in the year, the margin for error for Florida State is razor thin and notching a marquee victory over Notre Dame could prove as a nice jump-starter. If Florida State can play with the intensity it brought in the second half against Nebraska and versus UCF, it could have a chance. If not, an annihilation similar to the match-up with Providence may be in the works.
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