FSU basketball crushes Nicholls State, 109-62

FSU fans were excited to see the highly rated recruiting class take the stage for their first career game, and they didn't take much time to impress. Dwayne Bacon scored the first five points of the game, was in double figures before the 2nd media timeout, and by then the Seminoles had already taken control of the game.

The Noles were playing without five regulars, and Coach Hamilton wasn't able to mix and match as much as he'd like to. But still, only Xavier Rathan-Mayes played more than 27 minutes (31), and nine players played at least 10 minutes.

After Bacon's early flourish, the Noles offense flexed its muscles in transition, and everyone got into the act. XRM joined him in double figures in the first half, and the team scored 60 points in 40 possessions, taking a 60-32 lead. Even Jean Marc Koumadje got in on the fun, grabbing a rebound and dunking over the top of the Colonels center.

In that first half they only turned the ball over on 10% of their possessions.

The second half, as expected, got a little sloppy at times with the game completely in hand. FSU turned the ball over nine times in 39 possessions. But in those other 30 possessions, they scored at will. Nicholls State had no answer for the size, speed, and athleticism of the Noles, who cruised to a 109-62 win.

The Seminoles shot 73% on 2s and 50% from beyond the arc.

FSU played most of the game with one big and four perimeter players, and were clearly working on spacing out the defense and attacking off the dribble.

Defensively, FSU struggled with some switches and ended up losing shooters, but were otherwise pretty solid. They only gave up four offensive rebounds, and the guards in particular did a good job cleaning up the long ones. Partially due to giving up so few second chances, they held Nicholls State to just 0.78 points per possession, which is good defense, even against a sub-par offensive attack.

Dwayne Bacon led all scorers with 23 points and added a team high eight rebounds. Malik Beasley made 3-4 3s on his way to 21 points, and Terance Mann had 15 points, five rebounds, and four steals. XRM had his second career double-double, finishing with 11 points and 11 assists.  Devon Bookert also scored 11.

The Noles have a quick turnaround, and host Jacksonville on Tuesday night.