After getting embarrassed by Notre Dame in its ACC opener Saturday night, Florida State will return home Wednesday to take on North Florida. The Seminoles come in with just a record of 4-5 after falling to the Fighting Irish in South Bend.
Probably worse than its 83-63 beatdown suffered at the hands of Notre Dame is the fact that Florida State will be without junior guard and leading scorer Aaron Thomas. It was learned late Friday night that Thomas was ruled ineligible by the school for the remainder of the season.
Devon Bookert did return for Florida State on Saturday to finish with 11 points and 8 rebounds. Bookert had missed the previous four games for Florida State with an ankle injury.
With Thomas done for the remainder of the year, the majority of the offensive burden will fall on junior forward Montay Brandon and freshman guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes.
With Thomas out, Brandon is Florida State’s top scorer and rebounder. He averages 13.4 points and over six rebounds-per-game. Brandon paced the Seminoles with 14 points his last time out. Brandon is also shooting 59 percent from the field which tops the Seminoles.
Xavier Rathan-Mayes has led Florida State in scoring four times this season, which is more than any other FSU player. Though he finished with just 8 points in Saturday’s loss at Notre Dame, Rathan-Mayes averages nearly 12 points and a team-high 3.9 assists-per-game.
North Florida has a current record of 6-3. It will take on Tennessee Tech before arriving in Tallahassee on Wednesday. The Ospreys stunned Purdue on Saturday with a 73-70 victory in West Lafayette.
Guard Dallas Moore spurred the upset with 24 points. Moore, a sophomore, leads North Florida this season, averaging 16.2 points-per-game while shooting 56 percent from the field.
Shooting over 60 percent from the field, sophomore forward Chris Davenport has also had a very good season for the Ospreys. Davenport is scoring just shy of 11 points-per-game and leads the team, averaging 5.6 rebounds. North Florida has very good depth as seven players average at least six points.
North Florida played the Seminoles very tough in the last meeting between the teams. FSU was able to outlast the Ospreys in November of 2012 by a 75-67 score. Michael Snaer paced Florida State that evening with 21 points and 8 rebounds. The Seminoles’ last loss to a team from the Atlantic Sun came two years ago against Mercer, who is now in the Southern Conference.
Wednesday’s contest between the Seminoles and Ospreys will air on the Raycom Sports Network. Tipoff is set for just after 7:00 P.M. eastern time.
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