Florida State University Athletics
2020-21 Men’s Basketball Schedule Released
11/10/2020 9:47:23 AM | Men's Basketball
2020-21 Florida State Basketball Schedule
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (seminoles.com) – Defending ACC Champion Florida State opens its season at home against Gardner-Webb on November 27, opens its ACC schedule at home against Georgia Tech on December 15 and hosts to both Duke (January 2) and North Carolina (January 16) on its 25-game schedule which was released by the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Seminoles will also host Indiana in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge (December 9) and Florida (December 12) in consecutive games.
The Seminoles play their first six games at home in the Donald L. Tucker Center (five non-conference and one ACC game against Georgia Tech) prior to Christmas. Florida State’s first road game of the season will be at Clemson on either December 29 or 30.
“We know that a lot of people worked hard on putting together schedules for all of the teams in the ACC,” said Seminole Head Coach Leonard Hamilton. “Our non-conference schedule is going to be challenging because we are playing good, well-coached teams while not having the opportunity to play any exhibition games. Once you get into conference play, the games are all difficult because the ACC is the greatest collection of teams in one conference in the history of college basketball.”
The Seminoles will play 15 of their 25 games at home where they have been tough to beat in recent years. Florida State was 16-0 at home in 2020-21, have won 24 consecutive home games, own the nation’s second longest non-conference home winning streak at 38 consecutive victories and have won 65 of their last 68 games (.956 winning percentage) played at the Tucker Center.
Since the beginning of the 2016-17 season, the Seminoles are second nationally with a 62-3 record and a winning percentage of .954 at the Tucker Center.
Florida State’s ACC schedule contains homes games against Georgia Tech (December 15), Duke (January 2), NC State (January 12 or 13), North Carolina (January 16), Clemson (January 23), Miami (January 26 or 27), Wake Forest (February 13), Virginia (February 15), Virginia Tech (February 20) and Boston College (March 2 or 3). The Seminoles will play on the road at Clemson (December 29 or 30), at Syracuse (January 5 or 6), at Pittsburgh (January 9), at Louisville (January 18), at Georgia Tech (January 30), at Boston College (February 2 or 3), at Virginia Tech (February 9 or 10), at Miami (February 23 or 24), at North Carolina (February 27) and at Notre Dame (March 6).
Florida State plays six ACC teams twice (home and road) — Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech. The Seminoles play four teams – Duke, NC State, Wake Forest and Virginia – at home and four teams – Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Syracuse – on the road.
The Seminoles were slotted at No. 21 in the preseason Associated Press poll which was released on Monday and are slated to face No. 4 Virginia, No. 9 Duke, No. 16 North Carolina along with Florida, Indiana and Louisville who all received votes in the first national poll of the season.
Florida State’s 26 wins in 2020 is the school record for wins in a regular season while its five losses were the fewest in a season since the 1969-70 season. Florida State finished the season with a school record 16 ACC wins and won the regular season ACC Championship for the first time in school history. Florida State was ranked No. 4 nationally in the final Associated Press poll and No. 5 nationally in the final USA Today Coaches poll of the season.
The Seminoles return three starters – M.J. Walker, RaiQuan Gray and Malik Osborne – and 13 players who helped them win the ACC Championship in 2020. Walker is Florida State’s leading returning scorer as he averaged a career-high 10.6 points per game. Freshman Scottie Barnes – one of the top signees in the country – begins his Seminole career this season. He has been named to the preseason All-American Third Team and All-ACC First Team by CBS Sports.
Games times, confirmed play dates and television networks will be released shortly.
While several teams in the ACC will not be allowing any fans in their arenas, FSU has been approved to allow a reduced number of patrons into the Tucker Center, which equates to just under 25 percent of the official listed capacity. Throughout this season, COVID-19 protocols will be in place to help keep our patrons safe. In order to provide the opportunity to attend as many basketball games as possible, season tickets will not be sold during the 2020-21 season. Instead, existing men’s basketball season ticket holders will be provided the opportunity to purchase tickets to individual games using the same long-standing Seminole Booster priority system. It is anticipated that ticket sales for games one through six will be made available to sell to season ticket holders as early as next week.
2020-21 Florida State Men’s Basketball Schedule
N27, Gardner-Webb
D2, North Florida
D9, Indiana (ACC/Big Ten Challenge)
D12, Florida
D15, Georgia Tech
D19, UCF
D29 or 30, at Clemson
J2, Duke
J5 or 6, at Syracuse
J9, at Pittsburgh
J12 or 13, NC State
J16, North Carolina
J18, at Louisville
J23, Clemson
J26 or 27, Miami
J30, at Georgia Tech
F2 or 3, at Boston College
F9 or 10, at Virginia Tech
F13, Wake Forest
F15, Virginia
F20, Virginia Tech
F 23 or 24, at Miami
F27, at North Carolina
March 2 or 3, Boston College
M6, at Notre Dame