Primo Spears debut can't stop FSU basketball's losing streak in loss to SMU

The Florida State men's basketball team got a major boost to its depth Saturday night.

Georgetown point guard transfer Primo Spears, previously ineligible this season as a two-time transfer, was deemed eligible earlier this week due to the NCAA reversing its new transfer rule it instated.

However, even the addition of a player who averaged 16 points per game last season at his previous school was not able to snap the Seminoles out of their recent struggles.

FSU (4-5) suffered its fourth straight loss Saturday at the Tucker Civic Center, losing 68-57 to SMU (7-4). After two close losses to start the losing streak, this marked FSU's second straight loss by double-digit points.

While Spears brought a spark on the defensive end, it didn't translate offensively in his FSU debut. He missed his first 10 shots from the floor and finished 2 of 14 with 10 points to go along with two steals and a rebound.

Spears' off shooting night set the tone for an overall off shooting night for the Seminoles, who made just 31.1% of their shots against the Mustangs Saturday night.

For the second straight time in an FSU home game, things got off to an exceptionally slow offensive start vs. SMU. The Mustangs led 25-18 at halftime as the two teams combined to make 27.9% of their shots over the opening 20 minutes.

FSU was the worse shooting of the two teams in the first half with a 21.9% shooting percentage, making 1 of 13 threes and committing nearly as many turnovers (5) as it had made field goals (7).

The Seminoles picked things up by about the halfway point of the second half, shooting 41.4% over the final 20 minutes and scoring 34 points over the final 13:39 of game time after they had 23 points in the opening 26 minutes and change.

However, the Mustangs got even hotter after halftime with a 59.3% second-half shooting percentage to keep their lead to at least 10 points for the final 16 minutes of the game.

FSU guard Darin Green Jr. was the only Seminole to reach double-digit points until the result was known in the final minutes, finishing with 10 points. He also made two of FSU's four threes, accounting for much of the Seminoles' perimeter production on a night where they struggled from outside the arc.

The Seminoles also had assists on just four of their 19 made baskets and were outrebounded 43-33 by the Mustangs

SMU guard Chuck Harris led all scorers with 24 points on a very efficient 9 of 15 shooting.

The Seminoles return to action on Tuesday when they play host to North Florida at 8 p.m.

Follow The Osceola on Facebook

Follow The Osceola on Twitter

Subscribe to the Osceola's YouTube channel

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Apple