Florida State welcomed the top-ranked team in the country into Tallahassee on Tuesday night, as the Florida Gators stepped into the Donald L. Tucker Center.

And it was a rowdy Tucker Center. It was good to see the students show up, but it ended up being a sellout, which was awesome for a Tuesday night.

The offense was rooouuuuggggghhhh early. Neither team could get much momentum on the offensive end, as FSU kept switching between zone and man to confuse Florida's offense, and FSU's offense just couldn't make shots.

Anthony Robinson II was one of the few bright spots early. Florida State would go long stretches without scoring, but he would get things settled by either getting to the rim or getting to the free-throw line.

Shon Abaev was really playing out of control at the rim, starting 1/6 from the field.

Florida State had a clear gameplan: make Florida settle for threes. And it was working. The Gators entered halftime 6/19 from three, which is high volume for them. Keeping them out of the glass and off the glass is very important, and while Florida had the rebounding edge at halftime, it wasn't too severe. They also shot poorly at the free-throw line to start.

The Gators entered halftime up 31-29 after a three-pointer from Thomas Haugh, but considering that FSU was 12/31 from the field and 0/9 from three, the Seminoles had to like where they sat.

Florida had their largest lead of the game early in the second half, getting a mean dunk from Thomas Haugh to do so. Shon Abaev finally broke the lid off the rim from three, then Sebastian Rancik took a hard foul in transition (I thought it should've been a flagrant, but they thought it wasn't after a review) to cut it back down to three.

Kam Taylor took off for a MASSIVE dunk, which got the lead down to one, and Boogie Fland went down with an apparent shoulder injury for Florida. Momentum seemed to be in the Seminoles' favor.

AIRPLANE MODE KAM TAYLOR ✈️ #Noles pic.twitter.com/FTlqRauGam

— Austin Veazey (@EasyVeazeyNG) November 11, 2026

However, FSU missed a few more threes, Isaiah Brown hit a corner three over Marcis Ponder, and the lead was back up to eight.

Every time they built it up, Florida State had an answer, though. Anthony Robinson II hit a tough stepback two, and Marcis Ponder blocked a shot, sending Elisee Assui in transition, who slammed it home over Florida's Isaiah Brown.

ELISEE ASSUI POSTER #Noles pic.twitter.com/Wp6Cqb3CDA

— Austin Veazey (@EasyVeazeyNG) November 11, 2026

Boogie Fland returned to the game and hit a tough driving and-one, then a goaltending on FSU pushed it to 9, the largest lead of the game. FSU got it back down to 4 after a much-needed three from Sebastian Rancik. Abaev would split a pair of free throws coming out of the under-eight timeout to make it a three-point game.

Florida's Irban Klavzar made his first three of the game to bring the lead right back to 7, then got fouled on a three-point attempt, making it an 8-point game with 5:30 to play. Then, Boogie Fland collected an offensive rebound and put it back to make it a 10-point game.

Sebastian Rancik hit an and-one to make it a seven-point game, but Thomas Haugh drove to the rim and was fouled by Abaev and made both free throws, then Abaev fouled out after Haugh spun into him (I thought it should've been an offensive foul), but that made it an 11-point game with 2:31 to play.

FSU had to play the foul game the rest of the way, but they could never get it below six, and the Gators would go on to win, 81-72.

Sebastian Rancik and Anthony Robinson II were pretty good, finishing with 23 points and 19 points, respectively, but no one else made a huge impact for the Seminoles. It's tough to beat a team as talented as Florida without big impacts across the board.

There are no moral victories, and Luke Loucks will tell you that, but Florida State played well enough on the defensive end to win the game. Offense just has to be better.

The next game will be on Friday against Texas A&M Corpus Christi at home. Here are three takeaways from this game.

Marcis Ponder vs. Reuben Chinyelu Was a BATTLE

This was a huge first test for Florida State freshman Marics Ponder, going against the reigning Neismith Defensive Player of the Year, Reuben Chinyelu.

Chinyelu dominated this game a year ago with 10 points and 16 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive end. He still had his moments, but Ponder did a great job of keeping Chinyelu from taking over.

Neither player made a big impact in the stat sheet, but Florida State gave themselves a chance to win by holding Chinyelu to 8 points and 6 rebounds.

Shon Abaev Can't Be This Bad Moving Forward

Shon Abaev is a real up-and-down player. It was a lot of downs in this game. When he fouled out, he finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds, but he shot just 3/12 from the field and 1/5 from three.

There are moments when Abaev looks like the best player on the floor. Then, there are other moments, like tonight, when he looks unplayable.

Part of the challenge for Luke Loucks and this staff will be finding ways to make him a more consistent player. They don't need him to be the best player each night, but they do need him to be smart, and he just wasn't smart in this game.

FSU wants to be an NCAA Tournament team. They'll need Abaev to play well to do so.

Overall, a Good Fight

Again, there are no moral victories. The three-point shooting can't be this bad moving forward if FSU wants to be a serious contender. But they showed that they can play a C game and still hang with one of the nation's best. That's a reason to be optimistic. They won't face anybody else as physical on the interior for the rest of the season, and there is a lot to like.

What will it look like as pieces gel and get used to playing with each other? Or when the threes are falling? Those will be things to watch out for, because this team has a lot of heart, and they play defense at a high level. The offense is (hopefully) just working out the kinks.

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