TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After winning their season-opener at home on Friday night, the Stetson Hatters will take their show on the road for the first time for a two-game swing through the state capital.Stetson (1-0) will square off with Florida A&M (0-1) on Monday night at the Al Lawson Center on the FAMU campus with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. The Hatters will then face Florida State (1-0) at the Donald L. Tucker Center on the FSU campus on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
The Seminoles will also be in action on Monday, hosting UCF at 7 p.m.
The Hatters are looking to make major improvement in the area of ball protection during this road trip. Stetson turned the ball over 29 times in a 65-60 victory over Bethune-Cookman on Friday, the most in a game for the Hatters since January of 2002 in a game at Troy when Stetson turned it over 32 times.
“Our staff wants to see our guys be more sound and more consistent,” Stetson head coach Casey Alexander said. “We thought our shot selection was a lot better, when we actually got shots against Bethune. We just didn’t get enough of them because we kept throwing the ball to them and turning it over.”
The Hatters shot a respectable 54.8 percent from the field against B-CU, but managed just 42 shots in the game, as compared to 73 for the Wildcats. Bethune managed to hit just 19 of those shots, a 26 percent clip.
“I think we played hard and I think our guys tried to execute our defensive game-plan,” Alexander said of his team.
Stetson will likely see a similar type of team from Florida A&M, which opened the season on Friday with a 92-59 loss at Georgia Tech. The Rattlers shot just 37.7 percent from the field in that game, and got outrebounded 46-19.
“I think we will see a lot of the same from FAMU,” Alexander said. “I think they have more quality depth than we saw on the Bethune team, but they are not a team where we should not expect to go in and win the game. It won’t be easy and we aren’t favored, but it is a chance for us to get a road win, which would be great for us going forward.”
For the Hatters to be successful, they will have to continue to focus offensively on getting the ball inside to 6-9 junior center Adam Pegg. The Clearwater native tied for the team lead with 14 points on Friday, and got six of those from the free throw line.
“We wanted to get the ball to Adam, and we want to do that this year,” Alexander said. “He is the best chance we have of getting off to a good start by getting some interior points and getting to the free throw line. That is a focus for us, we talk a lot about that and our guys did that.”
After getting established on the inside, the Hatters should be able to get some open looks from the perimeter, which is what happened in the second half of the opener. Both Aaron Graham and Joel Naburgs connected on a trio of three-pointers, with five of the six bombs coming in the second half.
Alexander said Naburgs is almost back to full strength after missing an extended stretch during the preseason with an injury.
“I think Joel is OK,” Alexander said. “He made a big one late. He is a guy who plays with confidence, which we need. I am not worried about him. I think he will be fine over the course of the long haul.”
Courtesy: Stetson University
