Florida State and Tulane are both coming off disappointing performances.
Both followed up season-opening wins with losses to in-state rivals over the weekend as they prepare to meet Wednesday night in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Seminoles led host Florida by two points at halftime but got outscored 43-25 in the second half and fell 71-55 on Sunday.
“They just played harder, they wanted it more,” said Malik Osborne, who led FSU with 18 points.
The Seminoles were clinging to a one-point lead with less than 12 minutes remaining, but the Gators went on a 28-11 run.
“They were obviously a lot further along with their execution than we are,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “They turned it up a notch. I don’t think we matched their execution and intensity.”
FSU features six new players as it replaced more than 50 percent of its scoring from last year’s team, including three players who were selected in the NBA draft this past summer.
The Seminoles were No. 20 in the AP preseason Top 25, but fell out of the rankings after the loss to Florida.
“We are no longer the hunters — we are the hunted,” Osborne said.
Tulane opened the season with two home games against Louisiana opponents, defeating Southeastern Louisiana 70-67 before losing to Southern 73-70 on Saturday.
LSU transfer guard Jalen Cook has averaged 23.5 points in the first two games, but Jaylen Forbes, the Green Wave’s leading returning scorer, has averaged just 11.5.
“We’ve got to get him (Cook) and Forbes on the same deal,” Tulane coach Ron Hunter said. “Forbes gets kind of lost when we don’t get him the ball enough. We have a veteran team, but we added a guy who dominates the ball, so we have to figure that out.”
Forbes missed his first nine shots against Southern and didn’t make one until the second half. The Green Wave made just six of 23 3-pointers.
“We play so young offensively,” Hunter said. “I’m just disappointed with the way we started. You could see we let our frustration of missing shots affect the rest of our game.”
–Field Level Media
