Monday night was the official debut of quite a few new faces on the Florida State men's basketball team.
But it was a pair of second-year Seminoles who stole the show in the team's regular-season opener.
Sophomore forward Taylor Bol Bowen began his second season at FSU with a bang Monday, exploding for 17 points and preseason second-team All-ACC guard Jamir Watkins added 17 more. The Seminoles (1-0) coasted to a 74-62 season-opening win over Northern Kentucky (0-1) at the Tucker Civic Center.
By the seven-minute mark in the first half, Bol Bowen had already blown by his previous career-high of nine points from his freshman season. He finished with 15 first-half points and also notched a team-high six rebounds (ties his career high), three steals and two blocks.
"Most of his points came on hustle points. He was very active," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said of Bol Bowen. "Even though he's improved his perimeter shooting, he's improved his ball-handling, he's staying true to who he is. An athlete, quickness and speed and a high motor. I think he's utilizing that."
Watkins, FSU's leading scorer from a season ago, scored FSU's first five points and came on strong with nine points in the first half and eight more in the second, needing 17 shots (and making eight) to notch his 17 points.
After trailing early, FSU charged ahead in the middle of the first half and was never especially threatened after halftime, leading by double-digit points for the entirety of the final 20 minutes.
Across the board, it was quite a balanced effort in the scoring column for the Seminoles: 10 of the 11 FSU players who saw action scored at least two points.
Defensive intensity leads the way
Some of Hamilton's best teams at FSU have been led by their defense. You certainly saw some of that in Monday night's season opener.
Facing an inferior opponent, FSU's length and depth seemed to affect NKU as the Norse turned it over 22 times, leading to 22 FSU points off turnovers.
Of those turnovers, 14 of them were FSU steals. Watkins and Jackson led the way for FSU with four steals apiece, but five different Seminoles had at least one steal.
FSU was also credited with five blocks, led by two from freshman point guard Daquan Davis.
"We had 50 deflections. We normally try to get 35 deflections and we got 50 tonight," Hamilton said. "That says we're being very aggressive, we're out in the passing lanes. We've proven an understanding of how to take the fight to our opponents."
Despite the turnover, NKU had a marginally effective shooting night against the Seminoles, shooting 38.8% from the floor.
We'll need to see a bit more of a trend in non-conference play to get an idea of this team's defensive capabilities. But in a few ways, Monday's debut was an encouraging sign.
"I feel that we're closer to being like the teams that we've had that have been successful (defensively)," Hamilton said.
Perimeter shooting a work in progress
Watkins opened the FSU scoring Monday night with a three-pointer on the Seminoles' first shot attempt of the season.
From there, the perimeter shooting fell off considerably. FSU finished 4 of 22 from three-point range (18.2%). After Watkins' initial make, Hampton transfer Jerry Deng was the only Seminole who hit a three the rest of the game. The 6-foot-9 forward hit three of his six threes for all nine of the points he scored.
FSU made up for this by shooting 58.1% (24 of 41) inside the arc with 44 points in the paint.
Up Next
After opening at home, FSU hits the road this weekend for its first neutral-site game of the season. The Seminoles take on Rice in the Battleground 2K event Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
