Florida State men’s basketball (9-3,0-1) completed its last nonconference game with a dominating effort in its 82-64 victory over Winthrop (9-4) on Tuesday at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
At first, Winthrop made it a tight ballgame in the first 15 minutes of the game by only trailing in single digits.
It wasn’t until the final five minutes that the Seminoles outscored the Eagles 27-7 and led 45-27 at the half. FSU led as high as 18 points, while FSU’s aggressive defense shut the Eagles down.
The Seminoles dominated on the boards, outrebounding the Eagles 49-32. Jamir Watkins led the Seminoles with 23 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Malique Ewin and Taylor Bol Bowen put on double-double performances, and Chandler Jackson added 14.
“The guys finally understood that we needed to be a good basketball team,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said.
“For us to be a good basketball team. The guys will understand that for us to be a basketball team, we have to do a better job in rebounding than office and rebounding.”
The Seminoles are off to their best start since their 2020-21 season when they were 11-1 in their first 12 games. Before the holiday break, FSU will face its second ACC opponent on Saturday against Louisville at 2 p.m.
Here are the takeaways from Tuesday’s win.
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Malique Ewin has a flawless performance
Ewin was nearly perfect on the floor as Winthrop had no answer for the 6-foot-11 junior. Ewin recorded his second-career double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds. He also added four assists.
Ewin was on the verge of a perfect shooting percentage after going 7 for 7 from the field. Yet, he had to settle for 9 for 13 instead.
For nine consecutive games, Ewin reached double figures. He has become aggressive in the paint, and his presence makes FSU’s ball movement seem effective.
“There is a transition that all players make wherever they come from, at whatever level they are coming into the level we want to play. I think early in the year, he has grown accustomed to playing a certain way in his junior college to be successful,” Hamilton said.
“So we try to get him to do what we have to do with our five men to do of how successful we were in the past. We made adjustments and learned more about his skill sets. The passion, he makes good decisions with the ball.”
Bol Bowen has also been impressed by how Ewin has stepped up to being FSU ‘s second-leading scorer. Even compared the junior to an All-Pro NBA player out of the Denver Nuggets.
“I’ll be honest, I was surprised that it hasn’t been this all year,” Bol Bowen said.
“He is that dude. He has it. He is him. He is special. He reminds me of (Nikola) Jokic. He just got into the post and posted it, and he is different. “
Two double-doubles are better than one
Ewin was not the only one with a double-double performance on Tuesday’s win. Bol Bowen recorded his first double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
The sophomore forward knew he had it in him, but he credited the coaches for pushing him to be a consistent scorer.
“It was a skill that I always possessed,” Bol Bowen said. “Coaches have just been trying to bring the best out of me. It is something that we have to emphasize more. “
FSU out-rebounded Winthrop 48-31. Most of those rebounds were on the defense side, with Bryson Daily, 3-2, while the Eagles had 17. FSU’s offensive rebounding would generate 19 second-chance points and 38 points overall in the paint.
“It just shows their commitment to themselves and holding themselves accountable for the area we aren’t strong with. I was glad to see,” Hamilton said.
“Offensive rebounds make up for the ton of mistakes. You missed a shot, turned the ball over, were aggressive, and then got fouled, and you get to go to the free-throw line. That shows improvement.”
Leonard Hamilton was pleased with the energy from his freshmen
FSU’s true freshmen saw some significant minutes during its win over Winthrop. While they didn’t put in that many points, Hamilton liked the effort from his freshman group.
“We have five freshmen out there who are still making their adjustments,” Hamilton said.
“We normally don’t put ourselves in a situation where the success of our team, and our season has a lot to do with how fast we bring home the freshman, because we need them to contribute on some way so we can maintain and keep everyone fresh and maintain the energy of the long period time. I saw a little bit of that.”
Daquam Jones made his second-career start at FSU in place of the injured Bossyn Holt, Hamilton admitted afterward.
One only scored four points after shooting 1 for 7 from the field. AJ Swinton, Christian Nitu, and Alier Maluk were all scoreless during Tuesday’s victory.
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Peter Holland Jr. covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at PHolland@Gannett.com or on X @_Da_pistol.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Here are three takeaways fro FSU basketball’s victory over Winthrop
