In the first five games of Luke Loucks’ tenure as head coach at Florida State, the Seminoles already have made quite a bit of history.
After Robert McCray V dished a program-record 17 assists in the season opener vs. Alcorn State, Lajae Jones tied the program mark with 10 made 3-pointers in Friday’s 98-72 win over Georgia Southern. He joins George McCloud, who hit 10 3-pointers in a 1989 game.
The Seminoles (4-1) also broke their own ACC record for 3-point attempts they set earlier in the season with 49 on Friday.
Now comes a matchup with Cal State Bakersfield (3-3) on Tuesday night in Tallahassee, Fla.
In both instances that program records were on the verge of being tied or broken, Loucks and the Florida State bench made the player aware of the milestone he was approaching.
Loucks says personal accomplishments are not something he shies away from in the moment.
“Records are hard to break. They’re records for a reason,” he said. “… When anyone on the team has a chance to break a record that’s stood (since 1989), we’re going to try to go get it. We’re going to celebrate it.”
Florida State is averaging 39 attempts from 3-point range this season, nearly four more than any other Division I team.
Cal State Bakersfield will play its third and final game of the season against a major conference opponent when it takes on the Seminoles.
The Roadrunners opened the season with an 87-60 loss to Cal and then fell 82-60 at Ole Miss on Nov. 14. They head east coming off an 86-70 win over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday in a victory that snapped a two-game skid.
After missing last season due to injury, Dailin Smith has 53 points over the last two games — including 23 on Saturday — to surge into the team lead with an average of 17.0 points per game.
“I’m excited to see him play well,” interim coach Mike Scott said. “… Excited to see him go out there and execute, make some shots and feel confident about his game again.”
The Roadrunners are at the opposite end of the 3-point spectrum from the Seminoles. They’re bottom 20 in Division I in long-distance attempts per game with 16.8.
