‘Noles News: FSU football brings in top tier talent, basketball seals the weekend

Football/Recruiting

Florida State has been busy on the recruiting trail while hosting another major recruiting weekend, bringing in some highly sought-after recruits and familiar faces to campus.

Among the visitors in attendance were 5-star TE Landon Thomas, 4-star DL Justus Terry, 3- star commit DL Keishawn Mashburn, 5-star commit RB Kam Davis, 3-star DL LJ McCray, 4-star OL Jason Zandamela, 5-star DL Zion Grady, 4-star WR commit Camdon Frier, and 4-star WR Tawaski “TJ” Abrams to name a few.

For a full recap, check out the FSU Football: OFFICIAL Tribe ‘23 Recruiting and Transfer Portal Thread #23.

As Tour of Duty ramps up, transfers and early enrollees have been meeting with the media to talk about their decision to become a Seminole. They will continue to do so throughout the month, extending into February.

Basketball

Seminole hoops have been on a hot streak. Both men's and women’s basketball added another to the win column by beating Pitt on the road while defending their home turf against the Panthers.

The Florida State women’s squad (18-4, 7-2 ACC) defeated Pittsburgh (7-12, 0-8 ACC) 74-37, powered by yet another stand-out performance from Ta’Niya Latson and Sara Bejedi, who both scored 19 points while sealing the victory.

• FSU women’s basketball pummels Pitt

After a rocky start to the season, the men’s team is now 5-4 in conference play, taking down the Pittsburg Panthers 71-64.

It was Florida State raining in threes from all over the court, finishing 10-20 from deep, and the Seminoles walked out of the Oakland Zoo with a surprising 71-64 victory. This is the second straight league win away from home for the Seminoles, after starting the season 0-8 outside the confines of the Tucker Center.

—Darin Green, Jr. can flat out shoot the basketball. Shocking news, I know. Folks in Tallahassee, do yourself a favor and come out to the Tucker Center for a game this week just to see this guy shoot. It’s as pretty a shot as you’ll find in college basketball.

—Baba Miller and Chandler Jackson are making a difference. While both are still improving their conditioning and comfort on the court, both are clearly starting to make an impact. The first half point contributions were huge and Miller’s size presents mismatches on the court even if it’s someone else who ends up as the beneficiary. And when you look at the minutes distributions, you see guys like Cleveland and Green, Jr. at 34 instead of 38 or 39. That might not seem like a huge difference, but 5 minutes of extra rest scattered throughout a game sure makes a difference on shots and rotations when it’s time to close out a win. I’m hoping to see the coaching staff get Miller up over 20 minutes and Jackson at least in the 12-15 minute range over the next few games.

• Darin Green Jr explodes, FSU beats Pittsburgh for back-to-back road wins

All Sports

Women’s tennis swept their weekend with wins over Mercer 7-0 and FAMU 4-0. Anna Arkadianou and Vic Allen finished 6-1, turning in dominant performances alongside Ellie Schoppe and Kianah Motosono to finish doubles with a point against Mercer.

From Seminoles.com:

Against FAMU, the Seminoles took the doubles point again. Alice Amendola and Mila Saric won 6-1 at No. 2 and, just seconds later, Cade Cricchio and Lavickova finished off a 6-1 victory at No. 3 to give FSU an early advantage.

“It was great to get all 10 of the players on our roster competing today,” head coach Jen Hyde said. “It was really good to get everyone out there continuing to break up the cobwebs. Walking away with two wins in a day is always a good thing. Going into next weekend 3-0 was important, that was something we needed to do, and the girls did a fabulous job of taking care of the work, every single one of them.”

• Seminoles Secure Sunday Sweep

• Jumpers Shine on Final Day of Vanderbilt Invitational