Watkins scores 29 as FSU men snap two-game skid with suffocating 77-64 win over Tulane
After a week off for final exams, the Florida State men’s basketball team returned to the court on Saturday at the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Florida.
Which meant bad news for the Tulane Green Wave.
The Seminoles, coming off back-to-back losses on the road at LSU and N.C. State, suffocated Tulane defensively for much of the night to pick up a much-needed 77-64 non-conference win. They improve to 8-3 on the season overall.
Jamir Watkins led the way with 29 points (on a whopping 19 of 23 from the free-throw line) and Jerry Deng added 13 points, but the story for the most part was the Seminoles’ defense.
Tulane shot just 34 percent from the field for the game and was just 3 of 22 from the 3-point line. If not for a free-throw fest in the final four minutes, the Green Wave would have struggled to get to 60 points as the Seminoles forced miss after miss for most of the night.
Florida State also forced 14 turnovers, which turned into 16 points on the other end for the Seminoles.
Tulane scored the first six points of the game but then got overwhelmed for the next nine minutes. Florida State went on a 24-4 run – which featured 10 points from starting center Malique Ewin – to take control of the game and never look back.
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From the 8:34 mark of the second half, Florida State’s lead never dipped below 10 points the rest of the game.
Ewen finished with 10 points and eight rebounds before fouling out and Justin Thomas added 10 as well for the Seminoles, who essentially only used a seven-man rotation in the game. Watkins, Daquan Davis (9 points, 5 assists), Deng and Thomas all played at least 33 minutes.
The 19 free throws made by Watkins were the fourth most ever in a game by a Seminole. And the 23 attempts were tied for the third most. Jim Oler has the record for both. He made 22 in a game twice in 1955 and also made 20 in a game in 1956. He attempted 30 in one game and 29 in another during the 1955 season as well.
Watkins and the Seminoles return home to play Winthrop on Tuesday night at the Civic Center.
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