Florida State will look to even its record at 3-3 on Friday night as it hosts Charleston Southern at the Donald L. Tucker Center. The Seminoles snapped a three-game losing streak on Tuesday night with a 66-55 win over The Citadel and will aim to win consecutive games for the first time this season.
In the absence of starting guards Devon Bookert and Aaron Thomas, freshman Xavier Rathan-Mayes has emerged as the go-to guy for Florida State. Just two days after scoring 22 points against UMASS, Rathan-Mayes poured in 26 on 8-for-9 shooting against The Citadel.
Perhaps the most improved Seminole early on in the 2014-15 season has been junior forward Montay Brandon. Brandon is Florida State’s leading rebounder, grabbing 7.2 per game. Brandon has been very efficient from the floor, shooting 69 percent and scored a career-high 19 points against The Citadel his last time out.
Florida State’s trio of 7-footers, Kiel Turpin, Boris Bojanovsky and Michael Ojo have been a big disappointment early on this year. The three have combined to average just 12.8 points and six rebounds.
Charleston Southern enters Friday’s contest with a record of 3-1 which includes a victory at Ole Miss to open the season. Forward Will Saunders leads four senior Buccaneers averaging in double-figures scoring with 15 points-per-game. Saunders is also Charleston Southern’s leading rebounder.
Guard Saah Nimley scores 14.5 points-per-game and leads the team with better than four assists each time out. Forward Cedrick Bowen is averaging over 10 points-per-game and ranks sixth in the entire country with a field goal percentage over 79 percent.
FSU got the better of Charleston Southern, 67-59, when the teams met in Tallahassee last season. Guards Aaron Thomas and Ian Miller combined to score 34 points off the bench in the victory. Thomas’ status for Friday is not known.
Friday’s game between the Seminoles and Buccaneers is set to start just after 6:00 P.M. eastern time. It will be shown on ESPN3.
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