By Hunt Palmer
The ACC and SEC will lock horns over the next two evenings. The conferences will play 10 games Tuesday night and six more on Wednesday to settle on a SEC-ACC challenge winner.
Florida State visits Baton Rouge for an 8:00 tip off Tuesday on SEC Network.
The Tigers are winners of two straight and 6-1 on the young season. Florida State is 7-1 having lost its only Power Five tilt, a home game against in-state rival Florida in Tallahassee.
Leonard Hamilton is in his 23rd season at the helm of the Seminole program. He’s got a .600 career winning percentage at the school. He’s been to five Sweet 16s including 2021. Since that year, the program has sputtered. Over the last three seasons, Florida State is 43-53 overall and just 27-33 in ACC play.
Hamilton is 76, so there’s more coaching in his rearview than moving forward. He’ll try to get this team back to the NCAA Tournament.
Neither LSU nor Florida State is projected to compete at the top of their respective conference, but Tuesday night could be a nice resume win should either team end up on the bubble.
Here’s a bit of what we’re watching for.
Watchin’ Watkins
Florida St senior Jamir Watkins went off in a 73-65 win over Rice. He finished with:
30 points
6 rebounds
3 steals
7-14 FG
2-4 3FGFuture NBA player 📈 pic.twitter.com/HLHARHyNVv
— Rising Ballers Network (@dylan_lutey) November 10, 2024
Jamir Watkins is very clearly Florida State’s go to scorer. The 6-foot-7 wing tested the NBA Draft waters and the transfer portal before ultimately returning to Florida State for a final season.
Last year he was Honorable Mention All-ACC and scored double figures in 19 consecutive games.
He’s a good athlete, not an elite one. He averages 17.3 points per game, and no one else on Florida State’s roster averages 11.
He scores from all levels which makes him tough to guard. He can shoot the three reasonably well, 34 percent last year and 32 percent early this year. He’s better attacking off the dribble and using his length to finish around the basket.
This feels like Dji Bailey’s assignment Tuesday night. Perhaps Cam Carter and Vyctorius Miller also get their shot, but whoever it is needs to slow Watkins down for LSU. He put up 30 points on Rice and 19 against Florida early this season.
Disruptive Defense
Hamilton’s teams are always physical. It’s a hallmark of his program. This one is no different. Florida State ranks ninth in the country in defensive efficiency, fourth in steals per possession, 16th in block percentage and 34th in field goal percentage allowed.
They will get after it on defense.
That also leads to a lot of contact. The ‘Noles rank No. 268 in fouls per possession. They don’t mind beating teams up a little bit, and their length is outrageous. No one in the starting lineup is under 6-foot-5.
Taylor Bol Bowen and Malique Ewin are both north of 6-foot-10 in the frontcourt.
Great help defense by Jamir Watkins to come over and block the shot. Florida State put on a defensive clinic last week pic.twitter.com/OGS9Mh7Txd
— Nick Andre (@NickAndreATR) December 3, 2024
It doesn’t feel like a game where LSU is going to finish a ton at the rim. Jordan Sears and Cam Carter are a little undersized in this game. Miller is just a month into college and hasn’t seen a lot of active towers in the paint like these. Let’s see how well Jalen Reed has improved in his finishing.
That all said, you need to make some jump shots to score on Florida State. Florida was able to overcome 19 turnovers by making 10 threes.
Sorry Starts
LSU has been flat out bad before halftime. Northwestern State (No. 259 NET), Charlston Southern (No. 292 NET) and Alabama State (No. 197 NET) outscored LSU 92-80 in the first half in the Maravich Center. Not to mention, LSU fell behind UCF by 20 and went into halftime down 15 at The Greenbriar.
LSU is No. 244 in the country in first half points per game and No. 37 in second half points per game.
You can recover against Northwestern State. You did recover against UCF. But this cannot be a habit.
