FSU basketball: Malik Osborne to miss rest of season

After a six-game win streak was snapped in a double-digit loss to Georgia Tech, Florida State Seminoles basketball received another dose of bad news on Friday with the announcement that redshirt senior Malik Osborne will miss the rest of the year with an ankle injury.

Anyone who has watched FSU basketball in the month of January could tell that Malik Osborne was playing in significant pain. Perhaps Florida State’s most versatile defender, deadliest spot-up three-point shooter, and a senior leader, Osborne could barely dunk the last few games due to an ankle injury sustained in the win over NC State just after New Year’s.

After trying to gut it out for nearly a month, playing heavy minutes despite barely being able to practice, it was announced today that Osborne will not play for the remainder of the 2021-2022 season.

“I’m not very sure we are going to have very much of Malik [for the rest of the season],” head coach Leonard Hamilton said during a press conference, prior to the announcement he’d be missing the year. “It is just one of those things that we have got to decide on, and I imagine that we’ll be doing that shortly.

“I don’t see him getting any better. We could be deciding to shut him down and go ahead and operate on it.”

Just a few hours later Hamilton’s foreshadowing was confirmed in a release by Florida State. For a team that’s teetering on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, the news certainly hurts. With Raiquan Gray playing professionally, the Seminoles don’t really have another guy on the current roster who replicate what Osborne does as a small-ball center. And that doesn’t even mention his on-court leadership and experience.

For further discussion on how FSU might respond to life without Osborne, be sure to tune into a new episode of Matt and Michael’s hoops dedicated podcast, which should drop Saturday morning.

Here’s Osborne’s bio from FSU Sports Info:

As a redshirt senior

A double double of 18 points and 13 rebounds in Florida State’s victory over Penn in the season opener for both teams at the Donald L. Tucker Center…totaled a career-high 7 offensive rebounds, a career-high tying 9 free throws made and a career-high 12 free throws attempted in the Seminoles’ 105-70 victory over the Quakers (Nov. 10)…equaled his Florida State career-high of 18 points with six rebounds, three steals and two assists as the Seminoles fell at Florida on the road…shot six of 10 from the field and made a team-high three 3-point field goals against the Gators (Nov. 14)…totaled a near double double of nine points and 10 rebounds to go along with two blocked shots in Florida State’s 59-54 win over Tulane at the Donald L. Tucker Center (Nov. 17)…scored 10 points with 3 rebounds and 2 assists in Florida State’s victory over Loyola Marymount in the semifinals of the Jacksonville Classic…the Seminoles defeated the Lions by a 73-45 score at the UNF Arena…(Nov. 21)…named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2021 Jacksonville Classic in leading the Seminoles to the championship of the tournament…totaled 10 points and 7 rebounds in the Seminoles’ championship clinching win, 81-58, over Missouri (Nov. 22)…in double figures with 10 points and 7 rebounds in 31 minutes of play in the Seminoles’ 81-80 overtime win over Boston University at the Donald L. Tucker Center (Nov. 24)…scored 10 points and added 8 rebounds in Florida State’s ACC opener against Syracuse at the Donald L. Tucker Center…was a perfect four of four from the free throw line against the Orange (Dec. 4)…a near double double with 15 points and 9 rebounds against South Carolina in the No Room For Racism Classic in Rock Hill, S.C (Dec. 12)…scored 12 points with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 blocked shot in Florida State’s 97-60 win over Lipscomb at the Donald L. Tucker Center (Dec. 15)…totaled 19 points and 6 rebounds in Florida State’s 83-81 win over NC State in Raleigh…totaled 12 of his 19 points in the second half as Florida State gained the ACC road win (Jan. 1)…totaled 6 points, a team-leading 8 rebounds and 1 steal in Florida State’s game at Wake Forest (Jan. 4)…totaled 7 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in Florida State’s 65-64 win over Miami at the Donald L. Tucker Center…put the Seminoles ahead by a 63-61 margin on a 3-poingter with 27 seconds left in the game…the Seminoles won the game on two free throws by RayQuan Evans with 0.8 seconds left to play (Jan. 11)…totaled 7 points and 7 rebounds with 3 steals in 32 minutes off the bench in Florida State’s 79-78 overtime victory over No. 5 Duke in Tallahassee (Jan. 18)…scored 4 points with 8 rebounds and 2 steals in 23 minutes of play in Florida State’s 61-60 win over Miami at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables (Jan. 22)…

At FSU

Earned his bachelor’s degree in Criminology from Florida State University on April 23, 2021…currently working on a second bachelor’s degree in Humanities with a concentration in Communications…has developed into a team leader and will be one of the shining stars in the ACC and the nation with his experience in two different conferences and as a starter on Florida State’s 2020 ACC Championship team…a tough, physical player who loves playing defense…has strong rebounding, blocking out and shot blocking skills…one of the most experienced players in the ACC with 86 games played in his first three seasons as a collegiate player (31 in one year at Rice and 55 in two seasons as a Seminole)…is the Seminoles’ most experienced player in terms of games played (86), games started (59) and minutes played (1,926) as he begins play in the 2021-22 season…played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career during the 2020-21 season and helped the Seminoles to the Sweet 16…has been a member of two NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 teams (2018-19 during his redshirt season and in 2020-21)…also a member of the Seminoles’ 2019-20 season during which Florida State won the ACC regular season championship and earned the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament…the ACC Tournament and the ensuing NCAA Tournament was cancelled because of the coronavirus…in addition to his position as a starter on the nationally ranked Seminole Men’s Basketball Team, Osborne honorably served as a member of the Florida State University President’s Task Force on Anti-Racism, Equality & Inclusion during the 2020-2021 academic year…in his fourth season as a Seminole after transferring to Florida State from Rice and sitting out the 2018-19 season because of NCAA transfer rules…came to Florida State from Rice University where he played as a freshman for the Owls during the 2017-18 season…averaged a career-high 9.0 points and a career-high 6.5 rebounds as Rice finished with an overall record of 7-24 and a 4-14 mark in Conference USA play…his 86 career games played rank as the most by any current Seminole (teammate Anthony Polite begins the 2021-22 season with 83 games played and Wyatt Wilkes with 74 games played) while his 59 career starting assignments also ranks first on the team (Polite has started 24 games and Wilkes nine entering the 2021-22 season)…Florida State has a .786 overall winning percentage (44-12 overall record) and a .771 ACC winning percentage (27-8) in his two active seasons (2020 and 2021)…The Seminoles are 73-20 overall (.785 winning percentage) and 39-12 in ACC play (.765 winning percentage) in Osborne’s three seasons as a member of the program…an ESPN Top 10 Play of the Day honoree twice (in consecutive games) during the 2020-21 season…was ranked as the No. 3 Play of the Day on January 19 for Rise to the Top of the KCF YUM! Center dunk in Florida State’s victory at Louisville…was celebrated for a second game in a row as the No. 3 Play of the Day on January 23 for his incredible blocked shot at the basket against Clemson in the Seminoles win over the Tigers in the Donald L. Tucker Center…started 19 of Florida State’s 20 ACC games in 2020 with his only non-start in an ACC coming against Boston College in the Seminoles’ Senior Day victory over Boston College…helped Florida State to a 26-5 overall record and a 16-4 mark in ACC play…the Seminoles won the ACC Regular Season Championship for the first time in school history and set the school record for conference wins (16) during the 2019-20 season…the Seminoles finished his redshirt sophomore season ranked No. 4 nationally in the final Associated Press poll of the season – the highest final season ranking in school history…Florida State was the No. 1 overall seed in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C. before the championship was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic…the Seminoles were also expected to earn a very high seed and contend for the National Championship in the NCAA Tournament which was also cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic…a starter in four of Florida State’s 25 games as a redshirt junior with each of his four starts coming in ACC victories (Wake Forest, Virginia, at Pittsburgh and at Miami)…helped Florida State to the championship of the 2019 Emerald Coast Classic as a starter in victories over Chattanooga (Nov 20), Chicago State (Nov. 25), No. 17 Tennessee (Nov. 29) and Purdue (Nov. 30)….helped the Seminoles tie for the ACC lead with four victories over nationally ranked teams during the 2019-20 season: No. 6 Florida (Nov. 10), No. 17 Tennessee (Nov. 29), at No. 11 Louisville (Jan. 4) and No. 11 Louisville in Tallahassee (Feb. 24)…a member of Florida State’s 2019 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 team…helped the Seminoles to a 29-8 overall record, a 13-3 mark in the ACC, a fourth place finish in the ACC standings, to the third appearance in the ACC Tournament Championship game and to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament…the Seminoles’ 29 overall victories established the school-record for victories in a season for the Florida State basketball program…played as a member of the Illinois Ballers in AAU Basketball…played at the Bosco Institute as a prep season following his high school career…former Seminole and 2019 NBA First Round Draft Choice Mfiondu Kabengele also attended the Bosco Institute…named to the 2019 ACC Academic Honor Roll…earned two awards at Florida State’s 2020 season ending Honors Banquet – the Dave Cowens Chairman of the Boards award and the Mr. Hustle Award.