Luke Loucks' Seminoles Fall Short Against No. 1 Florida

No. 1 Florida headed to Tallahassee, took the Seminoles best punches, and left with an 81-72 win, dropping Florida State to 2-1 on the season.

After opening the season with wins over Florida A&M and Troy, this was Luke Loucks' first opportunity to show that his revamped roster was ready to take the next step.

Despite the loss, the Seminoles showed they have the potential to compete with anyone in the country on the hardwood this season.

Although keeping the game competitive until the final seconds is a moral victory for Florida State, the Seminoles will likely look back on this as a missed opportunity to pick up an early statement win.

The reason, at least according to his postgame press conference, Loucks felt he didn't coach his best game.

 “I told the team this, this was not my best night at coaching. I felt like I lost my mind a few too many times and I got to stay poised for our guys,” Loucks said. “I gotta be better. But I was trying to amp them up to the point where our guys were like, coach, you got to calm down.”

The first half went back and forth, with eight lead changes. But the Seminoles held the lead for just four and a half minutes, all in the first half, with their final lead coming with 39 seconds remaining after a Sebastian Rancik jump shot.

Thomas Haugh gave the Gators the lead with a three-pointer with 13 seconds remaining. Anthony Robinson II had a chance to give the Seminoles the lead back, but his three-point attempt with three seconds left missed the mark.

Florida State headed into the break trailing 31-29.

The Seminoles missed their first two shots coming out of halftime and struggled to find a way to retake the lead.

They got within one at the 16:07 mark after a Kameron Taylor dunk made it 37-36, but that was as close as they would get.

Florida extended its lead to 11 with 2:06 remaining. The Seminoles managed to cut the deficit to six with just under a minute left after a Taylor three-pointer, but couldn't get any closer, falling 81-72 at home.

Rancik led all scorers with 23 points, adding five rebounds and two assists. Robinson II followed with 19 points and three steals, finishing as the Seminoles' second-leading scorer.

Thomas Haugh led the Gators with 21 points and recorded his second double-double of the season, adding 10 rebounds. Guard Boogie Fland finished second in scoring with 14 points and added four assists, but also committed four turnovers.

Florida State shot 44% from the field, going 27-for-62, three percentage points better than Florida, which finished 21-for-51.

However, the Seminoles struggled from beyond the arc, shooting just 19% (4-for-21), while the Gators connected on 32% of their attempts (9-for-28).

Florida outrebounded the Seminoles 41-29 overall, but it was a lot closer on the offensive glass, where the Gators held a 12-9 advantage.

That translated into 14 second-chance points for Florida, while Florida State finished with 12.

Two of the biggest disparities came in bench production and free-throw attempts. Florida State managed just six bench points compared to Florida's 22.

The Seminoles shot 78% from the charity stripe, going 14-for-18, while the Gators shot 73% (30-for-41). The biggest difference was the number of opportunities, with Florida attempting 23 more free throws than Florida State.

Florida State will return to the court Friday, Nov. 13, when the Seminoles host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Donald L. Tucker Center for their fourth consecutive home game.

After struggling from beyond the arc and getting little production from the bench against Florida, Loucks will look for his team to improve in both areas as the Seminoles look to bounce back and get back in the win column.