Robert McCray V delivered some program history in Luke Loucks’ Florida State coaching debut Tuesday night.
The Jacksonville transfer guard dished a program-record 17 assists in the Seminoles’ season-opening 108-76 win over Alcorn State, nearly doubling his previous career high of nine and posting the most assists in a game by an Atlantic Coast Conference player since 2003.
Florida State (1-0) will look to carry that momentum into Friday’s matchup in Tallahassee, Fla. against another Southwestern Athletic Conference opponent, Alabama State.
“We felt it right away that he could pass better than we thought,” Loucks said of McCray. “He’s always been a score-first guy, but he would make plays in our scrimmages and our live sessions that everyone kind of took a step back and said, ‘Wow, this guy has a real knack for finding the open guy.'”
Chauncey Wiggins also poured in a career-high 22 points in his debut game for the Seminoles, who shot 55.7% from the field and 43.3% from 3-point range.
Loucks drastically revamped the roster in his first season leading his alma mater and that was reflected Tuesday, when the two returning contributors combined to score five points.
Alabama State has had to wait a few days to open its 2025-26 season, something that was probably made more difficult by the anticipation coming off last season’s success.
The Hornets made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 last season in Tony Madlock’s third season, winning a First Four game before falling 83-63 to No. 1 seed Auburn. Their 20 wins were the program’s most since the 2008-09 season.
Alabama State will have to prove it again, though. Its top three scorers from last year are gone, leaving the Hornets picked to finish fourth in the SWAC.
“We only have one returning starter,” Madlock said at SWAC media day. “Any time you have a team like that, you know there are going to be some growing pains. We expect that, but our word for this year is reset. We don’t say the repeat word, but reset is our word. We’re excited about the possibilities for this team.”
Senior guard Micah Simpson was named to the preseason All-SWAC second team after averaging 6.6 points last season.
