NCAAB Game Preview - Florida State at Tulane

Sun Nov 11, 2018 7:00 PM EST

No. 17 Florida State, coming off an impressive 81-60 season-opening victory over rival Florida, will try to build more momentum when it plays host to Tulane on Sunday in Tallahassee The Seminoles showed depth, an attacking offense and an aggressive defense that came up with nine steals and forced 16 turnovers by the Gators. FSU's 21-point margin of victory was its largest in the series since 1969.

"We're just starting to figure out who we are. I'm not ready to start taking bows yet," said FSU coach Leonard Hamilton, whose team went 23-12 last season and made a thrilling run to the Elite Eight as a No. 9 seed.

"We still have a long way to go and we have to maintain. We still have enough memories from last year that it keeps us in check. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves; it's one game."

Opening against a team like Florida had the Seminoles' full attention, and they will be trying to match that focus against Tulane, which is playing its season-opener. The Green Wave was 14-17 last season in the second year under coach Mike Dunleavy Sr., the former NBA player and head coach.

That team lost leading scorer Melvin Frazier, who left after his junior season and was selected No. 35 overall by the Orlando Magic. The Green Wave's second-leading scorer, guard Cameron Reynolds (15.1 points, 6.3 rebounds), completed his eligibility.

Tulane's leading returning scorer is 6-foot-9 forward Samir Sehic, who averaged 10.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game last season. He and sophomore guard Caleb Daniels each scored 17 points in Tulane's 85-74 exhibition victory over Loyola-New Orleans.

"I am a little disappointed in how they played," Dunleavy said of his team.

"I thought we started the game the way we wanted to start the game out, but turnovers and offensive rebounds are a bad combination to have a bad nights with, which leads to easy opportunity points for the other team."

For Florida State, 11 players saw at least five minutes of on-court action against Florida as its lead grew to 35 points at one point. The Seminoles also shot the ball well from distance, hitting 11 of 23 shots from beyond the arc.

Senior guard PJ Savoy led the way with 20 points, making 5 of 7 3-point attempts. He entered the season eighth in school history with a shooting percentage of 38.8 from 3-point range.

Guards Trent Forest (13 points) and M.J. Walker (10) also reached double-digit point totals.

Walker, a sophomore and former McDonald's All-American from Georgia, drew praise from Hamilton for his defensive work during the season-opener.

"It was new for him last year and he had a lot of adjustments that he's had to make. I think you see that he's been coachable," Hamilton said.

"He comes by and wants to watch film. He's attentive, he's eager to learn, he's become more and more of a sponge. He has just made his mind up that he wants to be what you call a complete player, a guy who defends and is a good offensive player on the other. I'm very proud of the progress he's making."

After this game, Florida State will be off until Nov. 19, when it plays host to Canisius.