FSU men’s basketball to open season at home against Stetson
By Chuck Walsh
seminoles.com
The Florida State men’s basketball team opens its season at home against Stetson on Nov. 7.
The schedule release last Thursday by coach Leonard Hamilton includes a home matchup against Florida, Purdue in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge, a trip to UCF and St. John’s.
The team will play 11 non-conference games with six at home in the Donald L. Tucker Center, three in the ESPN Events Invitational, one in Orlando at UCF and one in Sunrise against St. John’s as they showcase their program in four different cities and venues throughout Florida.
Florida State’s schedule of home opponents at the Donald L. Tucker Center includes Stetson (Nov. 7), Troy (Nov. 14), Florida (Nov. 18), Mercer (Nov. 21), Purdue (Nov. 30) and USC Upstate (Dec. 13).
The Seminoles have won 36 of their last 37 non-conference home games since the start of the 2016-17 season. Florida State has won 46 of its last 47 non-conference home games since defeating UCF at the Tucker Center on Dec. 6, 2014.
Florida State was 5-0 in non-ACC home games in 2021-22 and is 88-8 at home (.917 winning percentage) in the last six seasons.
“We’ve assembled a non-conference schedule that our players, and our fans, are going to enjoy because of the tremendous quality of our opponents,” said Hamilton, who begins his 21st season at Florida State. “Our home schedule includes Florida and Purdue – two teams who are favored to be among the top teams in the SEC and the Big Ten – with both games at home.
“The ESPN Events Invitational at Disney includes Memphis, Oklahoma, Stanford and Seton Hall – traditionally strong teams who are considered to be among the best in their leagues. Then, you add in St. John’s from the Big East who has continued to build their program, and we’ve really got our work cut out for us.
“We are excited about our group of players. They all know what’s ahead of them in the first two months of the season; they all know the preparation and mindset it’s going to take for us to be successful before we even begin to think about our ACC schedule.”
Florida State will be led during the 2022-23 season by a core group of returning guards in Matthew Cleveland (the reigning ACC Sixth Man of the Year) and his back court running mates Caleb Mills (12.7 ppg) and Jalen Warley (2.5 apg). Mills and Cleveland (11.5 ppg) finished one-two in scoring for the Seminoles during the 2021-22 season.
The Seminoles also welcome back Cam’Ron Fletcher (6.8 ppg) and center Naheem McLeod (4.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg) while welcoming in two graduate transfers (Jaylen Gainey from Brown University and Darin Green, Jr., from UCF) and an exciting and highly-ranked group of freshmen.
