Luke Loucks challenges Robert McCray to step up as a leader for Florida State

Florida State suffered a difficult loss on Saturday to UMass. That game was one that didn’t come with many bright spots, perhaps outside of the play of guard Robert McCray.

McCray had a double-double, leading the way with 21 points and 11 assists, not to mention eight rebounds. Now, head coach Luke Loucks wants something else from him. He wants McCray to step into a leadership role.

“I thought McCray was one of the few guys from start to finish who looked like he was ready to play,” Luke Loucks said. “He did a good job of attacking the paint, even though his three-point shot wasn’t falling. To me, he’s been one of the best point guards in the country in terms of facilitating this year, and I think he’s still top five in the country in assists. That’s with his teammates not knocking down a lot of open shots that he creates for them. I think those numbers will continue to go up.”

Robert McCray is in his first season with Florida State. A veteran who has been in college basketball since the 2021-22 season, McCray previously played for Jacksonville and before that Wake Forest.

“It was an emphasis for our staff with McCray coming up from Jacksonville. He’s known as a scoring guard,” Loucks said. “But he can really pass the ball and he’s doing a good job facilitating for us. Then, the rebounding. Our bigs have got to be better, across the board. I think all four of our bigs were outrebounded by one of their guys, which is again, not ideal. Tough to win games when that happens.”

Through 10 games this season, McCray is averaging 14.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game. That’s currently sixth nationally in assists per game. He’s done that on 44.3 percent shooting from the field.

Loucks loves those stats from McCray. Now, however, he wants him to also step into a much needed leadership role at Florida State.

“Rob is a special talent. The area that I’m going to continue to push Rob,” Loucks said. “Similar to the way Coach [Leonard] Hamilton pushed us, is the stats are nice. I know he’s working hard. He’s trying hard. There has to be a sense of leadership on this team. Someone’s gotta step up and take this team by the reins, grab some guys by their jersey, and explain to everyone in the room that this is their last shot at college basketball. I think as soon as Rob does that in terms of his leadership, our team, his teammates have so much respect for him.”

Luke Loucks calls out Florida State for ‘inconsistent effort and fight’

One key that Luke Loucks feels his team has lacked this season is consistent effort and fight during games. Without that, the Seminoles are going to struggle to get the results they want throughout the season.

“We have a lot to clean up. 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,” Loucks said.

“As soon as we figure that out. 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.”