What a way to finish it. On Senior Day at the Donald L. Tucker Center, Florida State basketball put together one of its most complete performances of the season, sending its seniors out the right way with a dominant 91-78 win over SMU to close out the regular season.
The story of the night was Chauncey Wiggins, and it isn’t particularly close. The forward was absolutely locked in from the opening tip, finishing with a career-high 31 points on an efficient 10-of-14 from the floor, including 6-of-8 from three. He added 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in 35 minutes. When Wiggins is playing that brand of basketball, FSU is a different team.
Robert McCray V was spectacular in his own right, quietly putting together one of his better stat lines of the season with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, a game-high 12 assists, and just 1 turnover in 26 minutes. Twelve assists. That is a special performance from a guard who has meant a lot to this program. LaJae Jones chipped in 12 points and 7 rebounds, and Kobe Magee added 10 off solid shooting (3-of-6 from deep) to round out a balanced offensive effort.
The Noles controlled this one almost wire to wire. FSU led 45-27 at halftime and never looked back, maintaining a comfortable cushion throughout the second half. The defense held SMU to just 33% shooting in the first half, and while Boopie Miller got hot in the second (finishing with 32 points on seven threes), FSU had already built far too much of a runway for it to matter.
A few things that stand out in the box score beyond the obvious. FSU forced 14 SMU turnovers and turned those into 23 points off turnovers compared to just 14 for SMU. The Noles also won the second-chance battle 14-10 and got 13 points off the bench. This was a complete team effort on a night that called for one.
For the seniors, it was the sendoff they deserved. This group has fought through a lot this season, and getting to celebrate at the Tucker Center one last time in front of the home crowd was a moment worth savoring. This team has been on an incredible run, winning 10 of its last 13 games. The turnaround they made shows the vision that coach Luke Loucks has for this program and should make every FSU fan excited for what’s to come.
Now, the real work begins. With the win, FSU clinches the 8 seed in the ACC Tournament and will head to Charlotte next week to face 9-seed Cal on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. It’s a winnable game, and with Wiggins playing like this, the Noles could make some noise in that bracket. Thanks for reading and Go Noles!