Luke Loucks calls out Florida State for 'inconsistent effort and fight'

The Florida State Seminoles dropped a barn burner to UMass on Saturday, losing 103-95. With that, head coach Luke Loucks saw his team slip to 5-5 on the season.

After the game, Loucks was frustrated with his team’s effort. He’d call that out, pushing for his team to be more consistent in that approach so that better results come along with that.

“We have a lot to clean up,” Luke Loucks said. “No one’s going to save us, and we got another tough game coming in Dayton on the road. We’re in a tough spot. We lost four in a row, and we’re playing with inconsistent effort and fight, and as long as our coaching staff has to continue to coach effort, just showing up and doing your job, we’re gonna be in a tough spot. We’re going to have nights like tonight.”

Florida State hosted UMass on Saturday. There, the Seminoles would give up 60 points in the second half, letting the Minutemen pull away for a win. There, UMass would outshoot Florida State 53.5 percent compared to 44.4 percent from the field. From three-point range, UMass shot 54.5 percent compared to 29.3 percent from Florida State. On top of all of that, the Minutemen had eight more points in the paint than the Seminoles did.

For Florida State, this was their fourth straight loss on the season. The previous three losses had come against Texas A&M, Georgia, and Houston. All of those losses had been by double-digits.

“As soon as we figure that out,” Loucks said. “Showing up to work with a lunch pail and a gritty attitude, our team will taking the next step, and we’re gonna have a better results than we did tonight.”

This is the first season for Luke Loucks as the head coach at Florida State. He has previously been an assistant coach in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings and earlier the Golden State Warriors. That came after a playing career that saw Loucks play for Florida State before going into professional basketball in Europe and the G-League.

Coming off a 17-15 season, Loucks is undergoing a rebuilding effort at Florida State. The Seminoles had the 17th-ranked Transfer Portal class in the 2025 cycle. That included seven transfers into the program. Add to that four incoming freshmen, and it’s a completely new looking team from a season ago.

Now, Florida State is looking for a way to bounce back as quickly as possible. On Tuesday, the Seminoles are going to face Dayton in another test.