Florida State Seminoles (0-1) vs. UCF Knights (0-1)
The 2022-23 NCAA men’s basketball schedule continues on Friday as the Florida State Seminoles take on the UCF Knights at the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida
It is a battle of teams that dropped their opening contest of the year as Florida State fell to Stetson in a stunner on Monday, 83-74, while UCF dropped a double overtime heartbreaker to UNC-Asheville. These teams have faced each other for time since 2011 with the Seminoles winning three of those four games. However, the Knights won the most recent meeting, earning an 86-74 victory back on December 19, 2020.
Stetson shot 50% in the first half, helping them to jump out to a 44-37 lead as they went on to defeat Florida State, 83-74. The visitors hit 47.5% of their shots in the contest, including 40% from three-point range. Florida State produced offensively as well, hitting 45.8% of their shots, but went just 14-27 from the free-throw line (51.9%), and that proved to be the difference.
FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton was quick to acknowledge that his young team may have been outsmarted. “You’ve got to give Stetson a lot of credit for sticking to their game plan and creating opportunities for their teammates. Their change of defenses, I thought, kind of unnerved us a little bit and created some indecision on our part. We had some moments where I thought we showed some life, but I think it was just the fact that – and you don’t ev er want to say inexperienced – but this is probably the most inexperienced team we’ve had, and we showed that tonight.”
Final from Tallahassee.#NewBlood pic.twitter.com/G5cuELIRcc
— Florida State Men's Basketball (@FSUHoops) November 8, 2022
Matthew Cleveland led the Seminoles in scoring, producing 16 points and adding seven rebounds. He was 6-11 from the floor. The loss was the first home opening loss for FSU since 2013-14. The team is predicted to finish fifth in the ACC, but that may need to be reevaluated following the loss.