Takeaways From Florida State's Exhibition Win Over Newberry

Florida State played its one and only exhibition game against Newberry College, a D3 school from South Carolina, and won 74-66. It was a little closer than many would have preferred, but the 'Noles were playing without both point guards in Jalen Warley and Chandler Jackson, meaning Caleb Mills had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders with the playmaking duties, though Baba Miller helped as well in his first game in the garnet and gold. 

The biggest thing is Florida State had way too many turnovers, ending the night with 18 turnovers. Naheem McLeod had 5 turnovers, Cam'Ron Fletcher had 4, while Baba Miller had 3. I'll excuse Caleb Mills' 2 turnovers, as he also had 9 assists. Once Jalen Warley is back in the lineup, it will help a lot with this issue, but it's still way more than a team should have playing D3 competition. 

The 'Noles also really struggled with defensive rebounding, as Newberry came down with 19 offensive rebounds with their tallest player being just 6'8". Newberry ended with 17 points off of turnovers and 13 second chance points. 30 points gifted to a much worse team is how you keep them in ball games. Rebounding being tied 47-47 is... less than ideal. 

The defensive pressure was very good though. Florida State had 11 blocks, 6 steals, forced 14 turnovers, and held Newberry to 31.2% from the floor and 29.6% from 3. You'll win a lot of games holding teams to those kinds of shooting splits, as long as FSU can clean some things up offensively. 

FSU shot the ball very well from deep, finishing 11/23. Darin Green Jr hit 4 triples, Baba Miller and Tom House each hit 3, and Cam'Ron Fletcher hit the other one. Where they struggled was, oddly enough, with layups, hitting just 5/14 layups. As I wasn't in attendance, I can't say exactly why they were this bad, but hopefully, it's just mental lapses more than anything. This is something that simply can't continue into the season. 

Baba Miller showed why scouts should be excited with him, putting up 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal, a block, and hitting 3 threes. He's going to have to chill on the turnovers and get in a little better shape, but very encouraging signs from the young Spaniard. 

Florida State had 5 players finish in double-figures: Darin Green Jr (15 points), Miller (11), Naheem McLeod (11), Caleb Mills (10), and Cameron Corhen (10). The biggest exception... Matthew Cleveland shot 0/9 from the floor, not scoring a single point. He contributed in other ways, with 5 rebounds and 2 assists, but he has to score. I'm not sure if his new form is getting in his head a little bit, but hopefully this is the worst game he has all season.

All in all, FSU still has plenty to work on before the first game on November 7 against Stetson, mainly rebounding, turnovers, and finding a way for Matthew Cleveland to score the ball.