Florida State will aim for its third straight victory as the Seminoles return home to the Donald L. Tucker Center for a rare Monday afternoon showdown with Stetson. FSU was able to get back over .500 on Saturday for the first time since winning the season-opener against Manhattan with a 75-62 victory over South Florida in the Orange Bowl Classic — the Seminoles’ first win outside of Tallahassee this season.
A number of Seminoles come in playing with confidence. Devon Bookert, Jarquez Smith, Kiel Turpin, Phil Cofer and Montay Brandon all either tied or bested their career-high scoring marks this past week.
Bookert paced the Seminoles with 22 points in the victory over South Florida. Brandon leads FSU on the season, averaging 13.6 points and 5.4 rebounds-per-game. Turpin leads the team, shooting 67 percent from the floor. The 7’0″ senior averages better than seven points-per-game.
Redshirt freshman Xavier Rathan-Mayes has led the Seminoles in scoring more often than any other player this season, but has become more of a distributor of late with 9 assists in each of his last two games. Rathan-Mayes is the only player aside from Brandon averaging in double-figures scoring with 11.3 points-per-game.
Stetson comes in with a record of just 3-9. Scoring and rebounding have each been an issue this season for the Hatters, who will be facing a Florida State team that features three 7-footers.
6’7″ sophomore Brian Pegg leads Stetson with 12 points and nearly five rebounds-per-game while shooting 63 percent from the field. Freshman guard Divine Myles ranks second on the team in scoring and assists. Myles averages 10.2 points and three assists-per-game.
Senior forward Kentwan Smith and freshman guard Angel Rivera have also been notable contributors for the Hatters this season.
Florida State and Stetson will be squaring off for the first time since November of 2011. The Seminoles won that contest 79-66 behind 18 points from Okaro White and a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds from Bernard James.
The afternoon tipoff in Tallahassee Monday is slated to take place just after 2:00 P.M. eastern time. The contest will be shown on ESPN3.
