Luke Loucks calls Florida State's first half vs. Georgia Southern 'absolutely unacceptable'

Florida State hammered Georgia Southern on Friday, running away with a 98-72 victory. Nonetheless, Seminoles head coach Luke Loucks was far from satisfied with his team’s performance.

“I thought the first half was absolutely unacceptable,” Loucks said. “I was really, really upset at halftime. And I think our guys felt it. Our staff certainly felt it. We have a standard and that was so far below it. It was totally embarrassing. I was very pleased with the second half. It was still a little ugly at times. We took some low-efficiency shots that were heavily contested, but some of those were by a guy that was super hot, and I’ll live with those.

“… Our urgency and effort was far better in the second half, which created some turnovers. More importantly, it created shots that I felt like Georgia Southern was a little off-balance shooting. … In the second half, we—I felt like at least, and I’ll see it on film—I felt like we touched the paint far more, which, inevitably, it naturally collapses the defense, and then you get much more highly-efficient catch-and-shoot shots.”

Loucks wasn’t exaggerating about Florida State’s sloppiness in the first half. The Seminoles shot 11-30 (36.6%) from the field through the first 20 minutes of the game.

Additionally, the Seminoles scored just four points off turnovers. In contrast, Florida State connected on 20-of-their-41 (48.8%) shot attempts in the second half and scored 11 points off Georgia Southern’s turnovers.

“That’s the difference between scoring 58 points in a half and 40 points. And it’s as simple as that,” Loucks said. “I think our guys understand that, but now they got to put a full game together. So, it was a good way to finish.”

Florida State guard Lajae Jones was especially spectacular in the second half. He finished the game with 36 points, 27 of which came in the back half of the game. Jones drained a program-record 10 3-pointers in the victory.

Jones transferred to Florida State from St. Bonaventure this past offseason. He only averaged 10.8 points per game last season, but is currently averaging 17.8 points per outing for the Seminoles.

With the win, Florida State improved to 4-1 on the season. The team’s only loss thus far was against reigning national champion Florida. The Seminoles almost upset the Gators, falling 78-76.

On Tuesday, Luke Loucks FSU will look to put together a complete game as it squares off against Cal State Bakersfield at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ACC Extra.