Florida State men's basketball season is almost upon us.
Ten days out from the start of the regular season Nov. 4 vs. Northern Kentucky, the Seminoles held their first of two preseason exhibitions Thursday night at the Tucker Civic Center vs. Division-II opponent Saint Leo.
FSU defeated the Lions 87-64 to win its first exhibition. But the final score is just about the least important thing to take away from this game. It's far more about how the team looks as a unit and how the new faces look.
And there are a lot of new faces on this year's FSU team which has only four players back from last year's 17-16 squad.
Here are some observations from FSU's first preseason exhibition.
Watkins leads the way as expected
On a team with so many new faces, having a returning player with a lot of production will be very important. That's just what second-year VCU transfer Jamir Watkins provides.
Last year, Watkins led the Seminoles in points (15.6), rebounds (6.0) assists (2.8) and steals (1.9) per game. With FSU losing so many contributing players off last year's team, that production is only expected to go up this season, as reflected by his selection as a preseason second-team All-ACC player earlier this month.
Thursday's opening exhibition sure seemed to validate that belief in the type of role Watkins will play for the Seminoles. He opened the team's scoring with a three-pointer on the first possession and finished the first half with a team-high 13 points.
Speaking to the size of his potential role, he took 10 of FSU's 32 first-half shots (31.3%) and made five of them. He played just eight minutes in the second half and took just two shots over the final 20 minutes, finishing with 18 points along with four assists, three rebounds and two steals to fill out his typical stat-stuffer line on the box score.
Malique Ewen, other newcomers make a splash in debut
Having so many new players on this year's team -- as many as 10 new additions could factor into the rotation this season depending on how things play out -- means Thursday's exhibition was the first chance to see how a bunch of rotational players looked in their first action as Seminoles.
At the top of that list of standout performances was certainly junior college transfer Malique Ewin. The 6-foot-11 forward got the nod as FSU's starting center in the exhibition and had quite the inside presence against an overmatched opponent. He finished with 19 points on 8 of 8 shooting and was 3 of 4 from the free-throw line, adding five rebounds, an assist and a steal.
While that type of efficient performance isn't sustainable against D-I opponents, it was an encouraging sign that he may be able to realize some of his former potential as a four-star, fringe top-100 recruit coming out of high school with the Seminoles.
UTSA transfer Justin Thomas added nine points on 4 of 6 shooting, three rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes. While the 6-foot-7 guard didn't play last year at UTSA, he had an impactful role two years ago at UW-Milwaukee, averaging 7.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
A pair of freshmen additions also flashed in their FSU debuts Thursday night. Four-star point guard Daquan Davis came on strong with six points in 10 second-half minutes. He finished with eight points on 3 of 5 shooting with three assists and two steals.
Freshman seven-footer Alier Maluk, who reclassified from the 2025 class to join the 2024-25 team, sure didn't look like a player who should be a senior in high school right now. In 14 minutes, Maluk had eight points, four rebounds and four assists.
For those who are interested, here's FSU's full box score rom Thursday's opening exhibition.
FSU is holding its second and final preseason exhibition on next Thursday, Oct. 31 at 3 p.m. The regular season opener is set for Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. vs. Northern Kentucky.
