TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Seminoles.com) — Florida State will play without its starting point guard RayQuan Evans and its starting center Tanor Ngom, as well as reserve center Naheem McLeod, when it faces Purdue on the road at Mackey Arena in its Big Ten / ACC Challenge game on Tuesday night. The lineup changes were announced by Head Coach Leonard Hamilton prior to the Seminoles’ departure for West Lafayette, Ind. on Monday.
Evans (6-4, 200) will miss the Seminoles’ game against Purdue as he attends the funeral of his brother, Tye Oldelk Lafranier in Montana. Lafranier lost his battle with a rare and aggressive form of Leukemia known as Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocystosis on November 20.
Ngom (7-2, 236) suffered strain in his right knee on November 27 during practice. He is expected to miss the remainder of the games on the Seminoles’ non-conference schedule with hopes that he returns for ACC play in late December.
McLeod (7-4, 255) suffered a mild ankle sprain prior to Florida State’s game against Boston University. His recovery is currently considered to be on a day-to-day basis.
“Our thoughts are with RayQuan as he goes through this period of grieving with his family,” said Hamilton. “Both Tanor and Naheem will work with our medical staff on a daily basis to return to the court when they are healthy.”
