FSU men roll to 101-64 rout, break century mark for second straight game

Five different Seminoles scored in double-figures, led by 20 points from senior shooting guard Lajae Jones, and the Florida State men’s basketball team rolled to a 101-64 victory Friday night in the Tucker Center against Alabama State.

The Seminoles are now 2-0 under first-year head coach Luke Loucks and have scored over 100 points in each game. Florida State scored 100 points only once all of last season.

While there were a number of things Loucks wants to see his team clean up moving forward, the scoring output so far has him encouraged.

“To put up back-to-back 100 points, regardless of the opponent, is tough,” Loucks said, noting that the Seminoles also set school and ACC records for most 3-point shots attempted in a game with 47. “It shows that the guys believe in our system and are trying their best to execute it. … I think we’re going to be able to score with anyone in the country, but our defense needs to continue to improve. And we knew that as a staff and our players know that. To compete with the big boys, you’ve got to sit down and guard.”

Jones got off to a hot start on Friday, connecting on each of his first four 3-pointers and scoring 14 points in the first half. Florida State led 46-30 at halftime, and it could have been much more lopsided if the rest of the Seminoles shot as well as Jones.

While he was 4-for-4 on 3-pointers before halftime, the rest of the team was 4-for-20.

Loucks said he was not happy at all with Florida State’s first-half performance at either end of the court. But after challenging the Seminoles during intermission, he liked what he saw during the final 20 minutes.

“I thought our guys competed in the second half better than the first,” Loucks said. “I lit them up a little bit at halftime. Just because I felt like outside of the last few minutes of the half, they (Alabama State) out-competed us. And I don’t care that we were up 16. I thought it was a poor half of basketball.”

Specifically, Loucks said, Florida State’s players seemed to get tentative when Alabama State played zone defense in the first half. And instead of shooting with confidence, they sometimes over-passed or over-dribbled instead of simply taking the first good shot they saw.

The first-year head coach said that aspect improved in the second half.

“When you turn down shots that are created, generally … you end up with a worse look,” Loucks said. “And that’s what I was on our guys for, is they were turning down great looks and hesitating because the team was in a zone. … If you create an open look, you have to take it, or you’re not going to be able to play for me.”

Jones finished his night shooting 8-of-10 from the field and 4-of-5 from long range.

Florida State poured it on in the second half, and they finished the night hitting 18-of-47 3-pointers. That was the third-highest total of made 3s in school history.

Along with Jones’ big performance, the Seminoles got 16 points from guard Kobe Magee, 14 from guard Martin Somerville, 12 from forward Chauncey Wiggins, 12 from guard Robert McCray, nine from forward Alex Steen and eight from forward Thomas Bassong.

Florida State will return to action Tuesday at rival Florida. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff in Gainesville.

Swinton Suspended

Shortly before Friday night’s game, Florida State announced that sophomore forward AJ Swinton had been suspended “indefinitely” for violating team rules.

When asked about the length of the suspension following the game, Loucks said that largely depends on how Swinton acts moving forward.

“We have rules like everyone has rules,” Loucks said. “We have a standard of the way we want to operate. And regardless of whether it’s AJ or anyone on the roster, when you fall short of that, there’s going to be consequences. So, he’s suspended right now, and hopefully he’ll be back soon. But he’s got to earn that. He’s got to earn his teammates’ trust — our coaches’ trust — that he can operate at the standard of which we want to operate. And as soon as he proves that he can, he’ll be back on the team and hopefully helping us win games.”

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