Florida State men's basketball stunned in season opener by Stetson, 83-74
The 2022-23 men’s basketball season started Monday night, but the short-handed Florida State Seminoles might want a do-over.
The Seminoles, who were favored by nearly 20 points against visiting Stetson, got off to a very slow start and trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half before falling to the Hatters, 83-74.
“I didn’t see anything that was not fixable,” Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Hopefully, we’ll learn that every team that we play, like Stetson, will be giving you their very, very best.”
*ALSO SEE: Corey Clark’s observations from FSU’s loss to Stetson
Stetson was led offensively by Ball State transfer Luke Brown, a 6-foot-1 sharp-shooter from Indiana who scored 27 points on 7-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. Brown came off the bench and scored 20 points in the first half.
Florida State was led by sophomore guard Matthew Cleveland with 16 points. Junior Caleb Mills added 12 points, and freshman Cameron Corhen added 10.
“Every once in awhile, you run against a guy who can throw it in from the parking lot,” Hamilton said. “That was part of the problem. … And we didn’t do a very good job defending him.”
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The Seminoles will be able to point to a several areas that need work after a season opener that saw them miss 13 of 27 free throws and give up a slew of offensive rebounds. Despite playing with a smaller lineup, Stetson registered 14 offensive boards and turned those into 15 second-chance points.
The Hatters hit 14 of 35 shots from long range, compared to 6 of 14 for the Seminoles.
“You don’t ever want to [blame] inexperience,” Hamilton said. “But this is probably the most inexperienced team that we’ve had. And I think that we showed that tonight.”
Florida State is entering the 2022-23 season without several players who were expected to be major contributors.
Brown center transfer Jaylan Gainey is out for the year with a preseason knee injury, highly touted freshman Baba Miller will miss the first 16 games due to an NCAA eligibility issue, freshman point guard Chandler Jackson is still sidelined by a hand injury, and two other newcomers were held out as well.
Next up for the Seminoles is a road trip to face UCF on Friday.
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