'A Hallmark moment' ... Robert McCray breaks FSU assists record in first game as Seminole

In the days leading up to his first game as Florida State men’s basketball coach, Luke Loucks said he didn’t want all the focus to be on him.

Senior point guard Robert McCray made sure that wouldn’t be the case.

In leading Florida State to a 108-76 rout of Alcorn State in Tuesday night’s season opener, McCray broke a school record for assists that had stood for nearly 55 years.

Former FSU great Otto Petty established the mark with 16 assists in a game in 1972, and Tony William matched it in 1983. On Tuesday, in his first game as a Seminole, McCray delivered 17.

“To me, that was a statement game for Rob to show that he wants to play in the NBA someday,” Loucks said after the game. “And if he wants to play in the NBA, he’s going to have to learn the point guard position, which tonight he showed that. I mean, that was one of the more impressive point guard showings that I’ve seen in years. I don’t care what level.”

Perhaps most impressive was the fact that McCray dished out the 17 assists while committing just two turnovers.

Said Loucks: “That’s a statement that, ‘I can play this position. I can play at the highest level.'”

When McCray announced in April he would be signing with Florida State out of the transfer portal, it was his scoring ability that drew the most attention.

The 6-foot-4 South Carolina native, who started his college career at Wake Forest, was Jacksonville University’s leading scorer the past two seasons. He averaged 16.2 points as a junior and 18.4 points one year earlier.

McCray was always a willing passer — he averaged 4.5 assists last season with the Dolphins. But that certainly wasn’t his calling card.

“Some people don’t even consider him a point guard,” Loucks said. “A lot of people, coming out of Jacksonville, thought he was more of a shooting guard. For him to put on that display — the 17 assists, the way he broke down the game. More impressively, only two turnovers. It’s hard to share the ball the way he did and not turn the ball over … I don’t care who you’re playing. So, what a special night for him.”

Florida State had an inside track with McCray, who also scored 12 points in his Seminole debut, because assistant coach Michael Fly previously coached him at JU. But even with that intimate knowledge, FSU’s coaches were pleasantly surprised by how well-rounded his game was when he arrived in Tallahassee.

“We felt it right away that he could pass better than we thought,” Loucks said. “He’s always been a score-first guy, but he would make plays in our scrimmages and in our live sessions that everyone kind of took a step back and said, ‘Wow, this guy has a a real knack for finding the open guy.'” 

Based on the Alcorn State game, McCray will have plenty of teammates who can finish plays once he gets them the ball. Senior forward Chauncey Wiggins scored 22 points, senior guard Lajae Jones had 18, senior forward Alex Steen added 12, and freshman guard Cam Miles chipped in 10. The Seminoles also got nine points apiece from guards Kobe Magee and Martin Somerville.

McCray recorded his 16th assist with 2:15 remaining, when he found Jones in transition for an alley-oop dunk. Almost immediately, Loucks and several members of his staff started letting the Seminoles’ players know that McCray needed one more assist to break the record.

Walk-on guard Jalen Crawford, who played briefly in six games last season as a freshman but never scored, entered the game with 45 seconds remaining and made sure to let McCray know as well. And with 20 seconds left, McCray drove into the middle of the paint, attracted the Alcorn State defense and kicked his final pass out to Crawford in the corner.

Crawford, who is the son of former Florida State guard Adrian Crawford, quickly gathered the pass, rose up and buried a 3-pointer to punctuate McCray’s record-setting night. While the younger Crawford might have been an unlikely pick to make the historic shot, McCray said he had no doubt his young teammate would knock it down.

“Before we end practice every day, we have shooting competitions, and J-Craw, he was hot this week,” McCray said. “So the fact that he was wide open, when I saw it leave his hands, I knew it was going in.”

It was a special night for Loucks for a lot of reasons.

It was his first game as head coach at his alma mater, it was his first career victory, and his team scored 108 points in a blowout victory.

But for Jalen Crawford to bury the record-setting shot, Loucks said, it truly was a storybook finish.

Loucks and Adrian Crawford have been close friends for two decades, Adrian was sitting sideline as the color analyst for Florida State’s radio broadcast, and Loucks has known Jalen since he was a toddler.

“His dad’s been an important part of my life as someone who played here, someone who’s been very successful in the community,” Loucks said. “But it was like a Hallmark moment. For Rob to find Jalen, a hometown kid that grew up cheering on Florida State. A lot of pressure for a walk-on to have that record-setting moment — that if he misses, everyone feels like you let him down, right?

“For him to step up and make that, it was awesome. I felt like the whole thing was in slow motion. I saw it developing. I’m like, ‘Oh, Jalen’s gonna end up with this. Oh my gosh.’ And to his credit, he stepped up like he meant business and knocked that shot down. And what a cool moment for him and Rob … and Adrian.”

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