So far this season, the Florida State men's basketball team has taken care of business.

With a pair of commanding 94-67 wins over Kennesaw State and Central Michigan, the Seminoles (2-0) have already matched last year's non-conference win total.

The degree of difficulty ramps up a bit now entering the third game of the season. The Seminoles play their first road game of the season and will take on rival Florida at Exactech Arena in Gainesville Friday at 7 p.m. (SEC Network).

The FSU women's basketball team (2-0) will also take on the Gators in Gainesville on Friday, with their game slated for a 4 p.m. start on SEC Network+.

The Gators (2-1) have wins this season over Loyola Marymount and Florida A&M and lost a close 73-70 game to Virginia in Charlotte last Friday. From a talent perspective, the Gators certainly present one of the tougher challenges of the Seminoles' non-conference slate.

UF has won the last two games in the series after the Seminoles won seven straight games between 2014-20.

"I think they execute very well, they're a strong defensive team. They seem to have the right combination of guys who can create and guys who are good shooters," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said of Florida. "This is probably one of the bigger Florida teams we have played against. They are executing their system very, very well. It's been an outstanding rivalry, I think, over the years. I expect it to be another one of those games."

Through three games this season, UF is outrebounding opponents by an average of 44 to 30 per game. Standout big Colin Castleton is gone, but UF coach Todd Golden has replaced his sizable impact with Seton Hall forward transfer Tyrese Samuel and Marshall center transfer Micah Handlogten, who are each averaging nine rebounds per game early this season.

Even in a pair of blowout wins, FSU has only outrebounded its two opponents this season by an average of three rebounds per game (39.5 to 36.5). The Seminoles have allowed more offensive rebounds (24) than they have recorded themselves this season (23).

Friday's game in Gainesville will certainly be a tougher test of this facet for the Seminoles.

"I think they're very well coached, they have some instinctive rebounders that are relentless on the boards," Hamilton said. "Probably, they're one of the top rebounding teams in the country. That seems to be a strength of theirs. That seems to be an area in our game that we've got to improve on."

Last year, FSU's young team which was forced to rely on a number of freshmen and first-year players in the program struggled in a number of facets, but one of those was away from home. The Seminoles were 4-12 in true road games last season and 6-10 in the 2021-22 season, where the team was also riddled with injuries.

Hamilton is hopeful that the experience FSU added through the transfer portal and over the past few seasons among returning players can make FSU more competitive in road games this season.

"When you have a combination of inexperienced players and first-year players, sometimes it's a little more challenging for those guys to go on the road. We've had our moments when we've gone on the road and some of the guys didn't adjust to it mentally and emotionally," Hamilton said. "I've got a hunch that we've got a few guys who have played a little bit and we don't have that many freshmen. We have some first-year players but not as many freshmen so this will be a good opportunity for us to be put in a situation where we're going to have to learn to grow up and compete in a hostile environment."

FSU is still expected to be without forward Jaylan Gainey for Friday's game at Florida.

However, it sounds like the 6-foot-10 veteran forward — who transferred from Brown ahead of last season before suffering a summer injury that forced him to miss the entire season — could be getting a bit closer to making his long-awaited FSU debut.

After Monday's win over CMU, Hamilton shared that Gainey was set to have an examination this week, which will provide an updated idea of his status going forward and when he may be cleared.

"He's been doing non-contact things in terms of drills, but we have not been able to allow him to participate in our offensive drills within the system. They're holding him back from that and I think they're being exceptionally cautious, which I think I'm ok with," Hamilton said. "I think he's getting closer. He's gotten his explosiveness back. He's anxious. Every day, he works as hard on what the trainers have him doing as our guys work in contact situations. He's putting forth the effort so I'm feeling better and better about his running and jumping. Quite naturally, when you have those injuries, you play to it a little bit, try to land on one leg more than the other because subconsciously, you know you're still recovering. I think he's in a pretty good place. I expect him back in the near future."

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