Florida State was our first live action of the Florida State Seminoles, as they participated in the Ballin' In Boutwell exhibition for the second year in a row. They played Alabama last year, but would play the Auburn Tigers this year, with both teams hoping to make a jump in their second seasons under their new head coaches.

With Florida State losing in a secret scrimmage to Queens on Saturday, a lot of people were nervous. I, for one, wasn't too concerned about that and was looking forward to this.

The Seminoles started strong in this game, with freshman center Marcis Ponder setting the tone down low with some big rebounds and putbacks.

An 8-0 run, which was capped off by a breakaway dunk from freshman Brandon Bass Jr., put the 'Noles up 22-13 with 8:30 left in the first half. But that's when Auburn woke up.

FSU experimented a lot with zone in this game, and Auburn's shooters were finding the soft spots. They made five three-pointers in the final eight minutes of the half, and with FSU's offense really struggling to find a groove, the Tigers found themselves with a 37-32 lead at halftime.

The defense was much better in the second half for Florida State. They were stretching their zone out a little more when they were in it, relying on some bigger lineups, and continued to set the tone on the glass with Ponder.

It wasn't until Kameron Taylor and Shon Abaev settled in that the game really turned in FSU's favor. Taylor had a personal 6-0 run early in the half, but an Abaev and-one with 12:33 to go, part of a 10-0 Florida State run, put the Seminoles back in front, and they wouldn't look back.

A few minutes later, Taylor took off for one of the highlights of the year and it's only the preseason, putting 7-footer Bukky Oboye on a poster.

Auburn was still hanging around, keeping it a one-point game at the under-eight timeout. Florida State scored five straight points at the free-throw line, then followed it with a 9-0 run, with a deep three from Abaev and dunks from Abaev and Taylor to push the lead to 12 with just 2:26 to play.

FSU could salt the game away from there, getting an impressive exhibition win against Auburn, 82-71.

Here are three takeaways from this win.

Marcis Ponder Solves Florida State's Biggest Issues From Last Year

Florida State was not a great rebounding team last season, as they just didn't have the size or physicality to really deal with some bigger teams. This was a strong first test, as Auburn has two seven-footers.

The most impressive big on the floor? Florida State freshman Marcis Ponder, who had 13 points, 21 rebounds, and 3 blocks in just 25 minutes. Of those 21 boards, 12 were on the offensive end.

Ponder just swallows all of the rebounds in his area. He has such impressive timing on rebounds, and he uses his size well to create space without fouling. He still needs to be better about finishing, but that will come with time. He has so much potential, and really fixes a big weakness for FSU.

FSU wants to be the best offensive rebounding team in the country, and having a true freshman that can snag 12 offensive boards by himself

Shon Abaev Remains the X-Factor

Shon Abaev was someone I was really curious about. He's a former 5-star who had a rough freshman year at Cincinnati, but the talent was very clearly there.

It was still shaky for most of this game. I'm not sure I love the backup point guard minutes for him, but I get what Luke Loucks is trying to do with him.

Abaev is a scorer. He wants to score, but he has a good enough handle to get to the basket. If you can add some more playmaking to that skill set, his ceiling as an offensive player really is limitless, and that's what Loucks is trying to draw out of him. His decision-making and shot IQ are questionable, though.

He still had 15 points in this game, but it took 16 shots to get there. I'd like to see him be a little more in control around the rim and have better processing on when to pass.

The Shooting Numbers

This wasn't a great three-point display for FSU, as they shot just 6/19 from deep. I've noted that this likely won't be a great team from three.

But holy smokes, they can attack the basket and get to the free-throw line. They ended this game 34/40 from the charity stripe, and it helps that they just have so many guys who can get downhill: Abaev, Anthony Robinson II, Kam Taylor, Sebastian Rancik, Martay Barnes...

While it may not be as potent of a shooting offense, this should be a better offense overall because of how many ways they attack the basket.

Florida State's next exhibition will be against a short-handed LSU on October 24th.

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