Florida State’s women’s basketball team didn’t just squeak past visiting North Carolina State on Thursday night. No, FSU dominated and beat down the 11th ranked team in the country for a 91-72 victory.
Which begs the question: Did we overrate N.C. State, or did we underrate Florida State?
It’s probably a bit of both. But most folks weren’t expecting freshman guard Ta’Niya Latson to be this good – at least not this soon – for Brooke Wyckoff’s FSU team.
Latson had another absolutely stellar game Thursday, tallying her sixth game of the season in which she scored 30 points or more. That’s a program record, by the way, at a school that’s been to 20 NCAA Tournaments.
In all, Latson finished with 31 points on a near pristine 13-of-16 shooting. She swished a pair of 3-pointers, grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists, and coughed up just a single turnover in 30 minutes of action against the three-time reigning ACC champs.
And according to HerHoopStats, Latson is just the 13th freshman since 2009 to shoot at least 81.2% in a single game while taking a minimum of 15 shots. The company she joins in that group includes the likes of Jessica Shepard, Maddy Siegrist and Elizabeth Kitley – which is to simply say, its pretty good club to be part of.
The iron is kind to @NiyaLatson.
🍢 32
🐺 225:51 2Q #NoleFAM pic.twitter.com/j6W8x2Ityy
— FSU Women's Basketball (@fsuwbb) January 12, 2023
ESPN tabbed Latson as the 14th best recruit in the 2022 class, several spots behind the likes of UCLA’s Kiki Rice and Stanford’s Lauren Betts. But so far, Latson has just a good of a case as anyone to win the Tamika Catchings Award, given to the nation’s top freshman by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
With 25 points per game, Latson is fifth in the nation in scoring and leads all freshmen. She also leads all of Division I women’s basketball in free throws made per game with 6.7. The advanced numbers like her too, as she’s 10th in PER (40.5), third in offensive win shares (6.1) and first in points per-40 minutes (33.7).
Latson has also been named ACC Rookie of the Week eight times this season. Eight!
Ta’Niya Latson poured in 31 points in the upset win over No. 11 NC State! 🪣
Her sixth 30+ point game this season! 🔥@FSUWBB | @NiyaLatson pic.twitter.com/YlL97kwvYj
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) January 13, 2023
Perhaps more impressive than the raw numbers is that Latson has FSU saddled with a 16-3 overall record and a 5-1 mark in ACC play. A lot of folks expected FSU to take a step back this year with longtime coach Sue Semrau retiring and some of its top players, like Morgan Jones, entering the transfer portal. Florida State was picked to finish ninth in the ACC Preseason Poll.
But with Latson, all FSU has done is win. Two of FSU’s three losses were on neutral courts – to Oklahoma State and UConn – and the other was on the road in overtime to Boston College.
Notre Dame might be the ACC team with the best national championship odds, but as the women’s basketball season continues, we have to pay more attention to Florida State. And Latson is a big reason why, but they also have players like Sara Bejedi, who can do things like this:
.@SaraBejedi with the halftime BUZZER BEATER! #NoleFAM pic.twitter.com/8DJSCAV7Uc
— FSU Women's Basketball (@fsuwbb) January 12, 2023
