FSU loses to Mississippi State 62-55

Any momentum FSU picked up with the huge win over the Gators was just as quickly thrown away with a loss at Mississippi State. Outside of Devon Bookert, the Noles struggled to do anything right. Missed layups. Missed free throws. Terrible defense. Careless turnovers. It was all on display as Florida State went into Starkville and lost soundly to a bad SEC team. The final was 62-55.

The strategy in the early season has been to stick with freshman Xavier Rathan-Mayes at point guard and to let him play through his mistakes. But after 36 minutes tonight, Coach Hamilton had seen enough and he went back to Devon Bookert. But it didn't change anything. FSU got to the line and missed free throws. FSU got into the paint and missed layups. They had to resort to fouling in the end-game, and MSU knocked down their free throws and walked away with the win.

Devon Bookert led FSU with 16 points on 4-6 3-point shooting. XRM had 12 points, six rebounds, and four assists, but committed five turnovers with several of them leading to immediate points.

Aside from Bookert, FSU made just 9-17 free throws and 2-8 3-pointers.

The Noles (8-6) go back to ACC play on Tuesday, hosting Buzz Williams and Virginia Tech.