Florida State basketball is feeling great after dominating their arch-rival Florida Gators 80-61 on Tuesday night. The Seminoles used a suffocating defense and lights-out shooting from deep to run over the Gators for the fifth straight year. Now they prepare to travel to New Orleans for a road game against the Tulane Green Wave.
Sunday’s contest will be the first game of the season for Tulane. The Green Wave had an encouraging start to last season, climbing all the way to 11-4 before the bulk of their American Athletic Conference schedule. From there on out it was much tougher–Tulane finished the season 3-13 and crashed to a 14-17 overall record.
The Match-Up
Who: Florida State Seminoles (1-0) at Tulane Green Wave (0-0)
When: Sunday, Nov. 11 at 7:00 p.m. EST (ESPN3)
Where: Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans, Louisiana
Key Players/Team Leaders
For Tulane (2017-2018 statistics)
Jordan Cornish, G (Sr.): 9.9 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 3.3 APG
Samir Sehic, F (Jr.): 10.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 0.8 APG
Ray Ona Embo, G (Jr.): 10.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 3.3 APG
For Florida State
P.J. Savoy, G (Sr.): 20 PPG
Terance Mann, G (Sr.): 9 RPG
Trent Forrest, G (Jr.): 5 APG
What to Watch For
Three-point shooting: Florida State used a hot shooting night from behind-the-arc to gain an early lead over the Gators. P.J. Savoy led the way by going 5-for-7 on his shots, with M.J. Walker next up at 2-for-4. Even Terance Mann and Trent Forrest managed to hit their only attempts from three-point range. While the Seminoles probably will not shoot over 47 percent consistently, it will be interesting to see how much they rely on the 3-ball to propel their offense.
Guard defense: Tulane’s biggest strengths is their guards, mainly Cornish and Embo listed above. Both can score at a decent clip and run the offense for the Green Wave. The Seminoles will try and stifle them in the same manner they did Florida, though Tulane will try and avoid the litany of turnovers.
Frontcourt rotation: Center Christ Koumadje received over 20 minutes of playing time in the first game of the season against Florida. The Gators do not have much of a post presence, so it made sense that someone like Koumadje would dominate the reps. Tulane does not have a strong frontcourt either, but since the game is against a relatively inferior opponent, Leonard Hamilton and staff might try and limit Koumadje’s minutes and get younger players more experience.
Number to Pay Attention To
14: Florida State forced a combined 14 turnovers in last season’s 72-53 win over Tulane (nine steals and five blocks). The Green Wave put up a fight in the second half, but those costly mistakes proved too much. Considering what FSU just did to Florida, the story might be similar in this one.
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