Indiana Basketball: First Look At Florida State

Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Click here to get your 30-day free trial!

On Thursday, it was announced that Indiana will host Florida State in the 2018-19 Big Ten-ACC Challenge on Dec. 3. It will be FSU's first-ever trip to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

So what exactly should Hoosier fans know about the Seminoles? Here's an early look.

Overall Record: 29-8

Key Wins: No. 19 LSU 79-77 (OT, AdvoCare Invitational), No. 19 Purdue 73-72 (Big Ten-ACC Challenge), No. 16 Louisville 80-75 (OT), No. 15 Virginia Tech (twice, 73-64 in the regular season and 65-63 in the ACC tournament, both OT wins), No. 2 Virginia 69-59 (ACC tournament).

Key Losses: at No. 4 Virginia 65-52, No. 1 Duke 80-78, at No. 8 North Carolina 77-59, No.5 Duke (ACC tournament championship), No. 4 Gonzaga 72-58 (NCAA tournament).

Florida State got off to a terrific start with a 12-1 record in non-conference play, highlighted by a neutral site win over LSU and a Big Ten-ACC Challenge win over Purdue. The Seminoles went 1-4 to start ACC play, then won 12 of their final 13 conference games to finish fourth in the league. That momentum carried over into the postseason with an ACC tournament with a runner-up finish and Sweet Sixteen berth in the NCAA tournament. Collectively, it was enough for FSU to rank No. 10 nationally in the final AP Top 25 for the 2018-19 season.

Collectively, the talent in this group landed Florida State a national top 25 class, coming in at No. 22 in the final team rankings for 2019.

Williams was the biggest get, choosing FSU over more than 30 other offers, including Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Ohio State, Texas and Virginia. He was invited to the Jordan Brand Classic this spring.

"It still feels like people are overlooking how big a score five-star wing Patrick Williams was for Florida State," Rivals national basketball analyst Eric Bossi wrote from the event in late April. "More mind boggling is that the Seminoles never had to fight the Tobacco Road bluebloods to land him. The dude is versatile, has skill, is tough and looks ready to contribute from the day he arrives in Tallahassee."

Koprivica chose FSU over Baylor, Gonzaga and others. He was considered a national top-25 and five-star recruit as a junior but saw his ranking drop significantly during his final season of AAU ball.

Jack is a juco addition who shot 35.8 percent from the floor and 33.9 percent from 3-point range as a sophomore at Eastern Florida State College after shot better than 40 percent in both categories as a freshman. At the time of his commitment, Jack was regarded by Rivals national basketball analyst Corey Evans as one of the top shooters at the juco level. He chose FSU over such others as Kansas, Miami and Texas Tech.

McLeod was a lightly-recruited center who accumulated eight offers during his recruitment, the other notable ones being Oregon and Penn State. Nwokeji was also pursued by Georgia Tech, Missouri, Ohio State and Virginia Tech, among others.

DAVID NICHOLS

Mann was the second-best overall shooter in FSU's 8-man rotation at 50.5 percent from the floor, and he shot a team-best 39 percent from 3-point range among all players who logged at least 15 minutes per game.

Koumadje was FSU's third-leading rebounder and second-best shot blocker last year.

Cofer had the worst free-throw percentage in the rotation at 57.1 percent.

Kanbegele is staying in the NBA Draft as an early entrant.

Savoy, on the other hand, was the best free throw shooter on the entire roster at 81.7 percent. Nichols was a key backcourt reserve who finished third in assists.

Florida State primarily excelled at two things on paper: field goal defense and making it difficult for opponents to pass the ball. Opponents shot 40.7 percent from the floor against the Seminoles, 29th-lowest nationally, with 369 assists (40th) and 529 turnovers.

FSU averaged 74.9 points per game while limiting opponents to 67.2.

Meanwhile, it shot 42.8 percent from the floor in conference play but limited opponents to just 39.2, second-lowest in the ACC.

Guard Trent Forrest, a former national top 70 and four-star prospect in the class of 2016, was the Seminoles' third-leading scorer last season. He shot 43.9 percent from the floor but just 23.3 percent from beyond the arc. Defensively, he averaged a team-high 1.9 steals per game.

First Look Series For IU's Non-Conference Opponents

First Look at UConn

----

• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals

• Like us on Facebook.