March 15, 2026, 9:18 p.m. ET

Florida State men’s basketball will not participate in the 2026 National Invitation Tournament. The Seminoles’ senior class voted to decline any postseason invitation outside of the NCAA Tournament, according to Warchant’s Ira Schoffel. It closes the curtain on one of the more surprising seasons in recent program history.

The decision came in the aftermath of a gut-wrenching 80–79 quarterfinal loss to top-seeded Duke in the ACC Tournament, a game that ended with a potential game-winning three-pointer from Robert McCray V falling just short as time expired. The decision, while difficult, was not surprising. This was a senior class that spent the final two months of the season playing with something to prove, and they had done exactly that.

The Seniors’ Choice

For the program’s senior core, the message was clear: if the postseason wasn’t going to be the Big Dance, it wasn’t going to be at all. McCray, who could barely lift his head through the postgame handshake line, was devastated that he couldn’t piece together one final magical moment for the Seminoles. For him and his fellow five seniors, there was no appetite to continue the season in a consolation tournament.

McCray, Lajae Jones, Chauncey Wiggins, and Alex Steen, the four seniors at the heart of Florida State’s remarkable second-half surge, chose to go out on their own terms, on the biggest stage the program has seen in years.

As Close as It Gets

The Duke loss will sting for a long time in Tallahassee. Not because of how it ended, but because of how close it came to being something historic.

Florida State clawed back from a large deficit late in the second half, with Jones scoring 17 of his 28 points after halftime to ignite the comeback. With 37 seconds remaining and FSU trailing by one, the Seminoles had a real shot at knocking off the No. 1 overall seed in the country. McCray’s three-point attempt at the buzzer grazed the rim, and the dream season ended one basket short.

A Senior Class That Delivered

Wiggins, whom Loucks called out publicly earlier in the season after a three-point, 17-minute performance against UMass, responded by scoring in double figures in each of FSU’s last six wins. His growth over the second half of the season personified what this group became.

Jones provided his signature moment against Duke, becoming arguably the best player on the floor that night. Steen contributed throughout the stretch run, providing steady play as Florida State won five consecutive road games, a feat the program had not accomplished since 1992.

McCray finished the season averaging 16.3 points and a team-leading 6.1 assists per game — third most in the ACC and the most by a Seminole since 1996–97.

Loucks’ First Season: A Foundation Built

The Seminoles started ACC play 0–5 before engineering one of college basketball’s most remarkable turnarounds in years. By season’s end, FSU had climbed from 101st to 58th in T-Rank, ranking 26th in the country over the final two months of the season.

Loucks received four votes for ACC Coach of the Year, finishing fourth in the balloting, a remarkable showing for a first-year head coach who completely overhauled his program’s identity mid-season.

For Loucks, a two-time NBA champion and FSU alum who returned to Tallahassee just one year ago, the foundation has been laid. He changed every part of his program during that early low point, from his basketball philosophy to his practice drills, and the results speak for themselves.

The End of an Era

Florida State finishes the 2025–26 season at 18–15 overall, with a first-round ACC Tournament victory and a near-upset of the tournament’s top seed to its name.

For McCray, Jones, Wiggins, and Steen, the season is over. The legacy of what they helped build: a culture, a standard, and a program trending upward, will outlast their time in Tallahassee. They didn’t get the ending they wanted. They got something harder to manufacture: a season no one will forget.

Follow us @FSUWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida State news, notes, and opinions.