During the five games leading up to today's match up, Florida State failed to score more than 70 points. They scored 80+ in the first three games of the year. Today, the offense warmed up, leading the Seminoles to an 82-62 victory over Isiah Thomas's FIU squad. Granted, FIU has yet to demonstrate it can play defense against anyone. Florida State had an Offensive Efficiency of 109.3 while holding FIU to an Offensive Efficiency of only 82.7 with an eFG% of 39%.
Due to an injury to Derwin Kitchen, Coach Leonard Hamilton changed the starting line up. Instead of Kitchen, Luke Loucks got the nod. However, that wasn't the only change. Xavier Gibson started over Ryan Reid. This was the Gibson's first collegiate start and provided a reasonable stat line in 18 minutes of play: 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Given the opportunity to start, Loucks contributed with 6 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 1 steal in 28 minutes of play. He only had 1 turnovers.
