The 17th-ranked Florida State Seminoles men's basketball team began their season Friday night with an exhibition game against West Florida. The Seminoles controlled the game from tip-off and used scoring from 12 players for a 96-56 win.
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Seven players scored at least seven points while five of them scored in double-figures. Christ Koumadje led the way with 20 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, each a game-high. He was extremely efficient in his scoring, making seven of his eight shot attempts and also knocking down six-of-eight from the charity stripe.
Final from the Tuck! #Noles Win pic.twitter.com/zkd2iCANbp
— Florida State Men’s Basketball (@FSUHoops) October 26, 2018
If Koumadje can show that he is capable of doing this against better opponents, that is huge for the 'Noles. The 7-foot-4 senior shot pretty well from the free-throw line compared to his 58 percent from last season and also tripled his scoring output from last season.
PJ Savoy played the most for Florida State with 22 minutes and scored 16 points with three-of-eight shooting from behind the three-point line. Devin Vassell added 14 points in 15 minutes of action. The true-freshman shot five-of-seven from the field with three-of-four from three and also had four rebounds.
Felt good to be back on the court pic.twitter.com/FZgE58X5Lp
— Florida State Men’s Basketball (@FSUHoops) October 27, 2018
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The top-two scorers from last season didn't do too much in the game, with only one playing and the other only taking four shots. Phil Cofer, last year's leading scorer, didn't play a single minute in the game. Terrance Mann, who finished second in scoring a year ago, finished with seven points and four rebounds in 19 minutes of action.
Back at home in our ⚪️.
6pm Tip pic.twitter.com/1Au4YKbvmy— Florida State Men’s Basketball (@FSUHoops) October 26, 2018
The Seminoles play one more exhibition game on Thursday before opening the season against the Florida Gators on Nov. 6. With much of the team returning from last season, hopefully players like Koumadje can step up and make improvements while Cofer and Mann are the corner-stones of another NCAA Tourney run.
Florida State only lost a couple main pieces from last season and have only two true freshman on the roster, so they are an experienced team with veterans they can always count on in big moments. They also have a wide-range of player styles to find favorable matchups. With Koumadje in the middle at 7-4, they can use him to tower over opponents, but they can also go small with some of their tall forwards.
