Florida State Dominates Kennesaw State in Season Opener

The Seminoles start off the season on the right foot with a decisive victory in the Tucker Center.

It was a sight for sore eyes, as Florida State rolled over Kennesaw State in the season opener 94-67, and led the entire way. There have been many ACC teams that struggled in their opening matchups against smaller schools, the Seminoles were not one of them. 

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Kennesaw State is no slouch of a team; they were projected to finish 2nd in the Atlantic Sun after winning the conference last year, and have two dynamic guards in Terrell Burden and Simeon Cottle, yet FSU was fantastic defensively. 

FSU allowed .848 points per possession in a 79-possession game, which would've been their second-best defensive performance of last season. Their 1.146 PPP scoring would've been their fourth-best outing of last season. 

Florida State vs Kennesaw State Box Score, FSU Wins 94-67 / Florida State Live StatBroadcast

It was a really well-balanced game from Florida State, with no one playing more than 26 minutes, but having every active scholarship player play 11+ minutes and score at least four points. This is how Leonard Hamilton wants to play. It doesn't mean it was a perfect game, but considering how last season went, these are things you love to see. 

Darin Green Jr. tied to lead all scorers with 18 points, 15 of them coming in the first half. He looked a little more comfortable in the mid-range in this game, but that didn't stop him from launching from deep, one that included his 300th career 3-pointer made. 

Cam'Ron Fletcher made a big impact in his first game back from his ACL tear with 11 points and 5 rebounds, Cameron Corhen had 10 points, and Jalen Warley, Baba Miller, Tom House, and Josh Nickelberry each had 9 points. Warley did a great job of using his size in the paint to get easy buckets and get to the free-throw line. Even though Jamir Watkins wasn't scoring the ball, he still led the team in rebounds with 7 and assists with 6. 

For Kennesaw State, Simeon Cottle matched Darin Green's 18 points, but it took him 16 shots to get there, while Terrell Burden had 13 points on 3/12 shooting (7/10 from the free throw line). 

I thought Florida State did a phenomenal job of defending without fouling early on; Kennesaw State didn't attempt their first free throws until almost 14 minutes into the first half. Jamie Luckie's officiating crew ended up balancing things out as the Owls shot 20 second-half free throws. Taylor Bol Bowen looked really quick on his feet for a 6'10" freshman; there were a few times early where Kennesaw State tried to take him off the dribble and it just wasn't happening. Baba Miller was great escorting drivers to the basket as well. 

The Seminoles still need to clean up rebounding, as they allowed 15 offensive rebounds, but FSU limited the second-chance points to just 10. So while the rebounding wasn't what you'd want to see, KSU was just 11/28 on layups. That's a win. Florida State also did a good job forcing turnovers, 17 for a turnover rate of 21.5%, right where I thought they needed to be heading into this game. FSU was just behind in fastbreak points, 16-12, but they were fairly effective in limiting Kennesaw State's transition all game. 

The biggest revelation of all was Kennesaw State's 4/25 (16%) performance from 3. That's the lowest Florida State has allowed in a win since a February 2019 win over Georgia Tech. Considering FSU was 344th nationally last season in 3-point defense after allowing teams to shoot 37.6%, that's the best takeaway from this game. 

FSU will be back on the court at home Monday against Central Michigan, as a first game in the Sunshine Slam. 

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