3 takeaways as FSU Basketball dominates crosstown FAMU in exhibition

For the first time in 30 years, Florida State played Florida A&M in a basketball game.

Austin Veazey | Oct 26, 2025

Florida A&M Rattlers head coach Charlie Ward (left) shares a laugh with Florida State Seminoles head coach Luke Loucks during a pregame press conference at The Coyle E. Moore Athletic Center for the Florida A&M Rattlers at Florida State Seminoles NCAA men's college basketball exhibition game, Tallahassee, Florida, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. / Gerald Thomas / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Florida State closed off its preseason with a game against Florida A&M on Sunday afternoon. They gave fans some hope with a great showing against Alabama in the first exhibition game 10 days ago, and this was a great way to tune up against another Division 1 team before the season starts on November 4th.

Charlie Ward is now the head coach of FAMU, who had his jersey retired before the game. He officially became the first Florida State athlete to have his jersey honored in two different sports, and this one was long overdue.

It was a slow start to this game, as the score was 20-19 ten minutes in. Florida State was generating open looks, but they just weren't making them. However, they turned up the defense and started to get to the free-throw line. Over the final 9:57 of the half, Florida State outscored FAMU 25-6, holding the Rattlers to 3/15 shooting, and turning them over eight times in that span, which included a technical foul on Charlie Ward. Robert McCray was also getting to the line at will, much like the second half of the 'Bama game.

That gave FSU a 20-point lead at halftime, despite shooting just 4/17 from three, and just over 40% from the floor. They then started the second half on a 12-2 run, extending the lead to 30 before you could even blink. From there, they were able to run away with the game. There was a stretch of five straight turnovers by FSU, which gave FAMU some late momentum, but never enough to make a difference, and the Seminoles would go on to win 88-54.

FSU had five players in double-figures, led by Robert McCray V and LaJae Jones, who had 15 points each.

Here are three takeaways from this win.

FINAL: Florida State beats Florida A&M 88-54 in the final exhibition game before regular season starts on Nov. 4th

L Jones: 15 pts, 5 rebs
R McCray V: 15 pts, 6 rebs
K MaGee: 13 pts, 6 rebs
C Miles: 11 pts
C Wiggins: 11 pts

Solid performance against another D1 opponent #Noles pic.twitter.com/ex2jlVWFCw
— Austin Veazey (@EasyVeazeyNG) October 26, 2025

1. Encouraging Offense, Even With Cold Shooting

One thing I was curious about finding out with this team is what would happen if the threes weren't falling. We found out early in this game, as they really struggled to shoot in the first half. Robert McCray V got to the free-throw line, which helped steady the offense. Still putting up 45 points in the first half while only making four threes is a very encouraging sign.

2. Much Better Defensive Effort

I didn't take too much away defensively from the Alabama game. Alabama plays the fastest tempo in the country and will likely lead Division 1 in points per game. In no realistic world was FSU going to have a great defensive performance there. So, I was curious how it would look in this game against a lesser D1 opponent.

It was much better. FAMU isn't a good team, but outside of a few sloppy rotations early, especially with Tyler Shirley stretching to three (which was FAMU's only offense early), they cleaned that up for the rest of the game. There's a lot of effort from the guys on perimeter to cover ground and contest threes, and effort is half the battle. I was very pleased with this performance. They also forced 25 turnovers, and did it without fouling, as FAMU only attempted 9 free throws. Combine that with holding FAMU to 21/68 (30.9%)from the floor, and you have a really great defensive performance on your hands.

Whether that carries over to when they play Florida in a few weeks is a different discussion.

3. Turnovers Are an Issue

Outside of shooting, the turnovers were definitely the biggest concern from this game. They only had 11 against Alabama, which was honestly a great performance considering how many possessions there were in that game.

It wasn't as clean on Sunday, as FSU turned it over 22 times, including a stretch in the second half where they turned it over on five straight possessions. They didn't make great decisions when pressed, had a few sloppy passes in the half-court, and FAMU ripped FSU a few times. They'll need to clean that up before the regular season begins on November 4th.

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