Florida State’s men’s basketball team has its date set in the SEC/ACC Men’s Basketball Challenge: a Dec. 1 trip to Knoxville to face Tennessee at 7 p.m. ET.
The Seminoles have done some of their better work in that building, too. Florida State is 4-1 in its last five games in Knoxville, and it owns a 5-4 all-time record against the Volunteers.
The teams last met in 2019, when Florida State came away with a 60-57 win. Tennessee, though, has controlled the series in Knoxville, holding a 4-1 edge in games played there.
For Luke Loucks, the matchup comes as he heads into his second season leading the program. Florida State finished 18-15 overall and 10-8 in the ACC last year, then closed strong with six wins in its final seven games before the run ended with a second-round ACC Tournament loss to Duke.
The roster looks much different now. Loucks lost 11 players from last season’s team, including six graduating seniors and five who entered the portal. Among the departures were Robert McCray, who paced the Seminoles with 16.3 points and 6.1 assists per game, Chancey Washington, who averaged 13.3 points per game, and Lajae Jones, who was drafted by Golden State with the 54th pick.
Florida State tried to reload quickly in the portal, bringing in five newcomers: Anthony Robinson II from Missouri, Shon Abaev from Cincinnati, Cooper Schwieger from Wake Forest, Sebastian Rancik from Colorado and Kameron Taylor from UNC Asheville.
The Seminoles do have a couple of familiar pieces back. AJ Swinton, a 6-foot-6 forward who averaged 4.5 points per game as a backup last season, returns to provide depth, and former walk-on Jalen Crawford is also back in the mix.
Loucks’ path to this point is a familiar one in Tallahassee. He played for Leonard Hamilton from 2008-2012 and was part of the 2012 ACC championship team. After that, he spent a decade coaching in the NBA, including a stint with the Sacramento Kings before taking over at Florida State.
Tennessee enters the matchup under Rick Barnes, now in his 12th year with the Volunteers. Barnes guided the Vols to a 25-12 record last season, including an 11-7 mark in SEC play, before they fell to the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship Game.
This year’s Tennessee group features Jalen Haralson, Dai Dai Ames, Juke Hurts and Miles Rubin, with center DeWayne Brown expected to anchor the front line.
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James Franklins success at Virginia Tech only sharpens that backdrop, especially with the recruiting momentum he has helped build there. For Florida State, the contrast is uncomfortable because it raises the question of how different things might have looked had the Seminoles landed him instead, and whether a coaching change now would only deepen the sense that a costly opportunity already passed by. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Faces Its First ACC Gut Check In Tallahassee
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Florida State enters at 2-2 after beating Central Arkansas, and both teams bring experienced quarterbacks and running backs into a game that figures to lean on veteran play. Virginia has taken the last two meetings, even though Florida State still owns the edge in the all-time series, which adds a little extra bite to a matchup already carrying early-season implications for both sides. [Read more 🡒]