Leonard Hamilton discusses ‘human nature’ catching up to Florida State

Florida State was a winner of five straight and seven of their last eight coming into the weekend. However, they left it as a loser against Clemson because, in the opinion of Leonard Hamilton, the Seminoles got content.

Hamilton spoke about the loss in his postgame press conference after the 78-67 defeat to the Tigers on Saturday. He labeled human nature as a reason for their first loss since the turn of the new year. He felt like Clemson came in with an appropriate desperation for a victory. Meanwhile, his team showed an immaturity in that spot following their best run of the campaign so far.

“Human nature is what it is. I mean you have a tendency, regardless, when you go from being the hunter to the hunted. That’s a big change,” said Hamilton. “It’s not easy to win five in a row in the ACC. People respect that. They’ve lost three of the last four. We won six of the last seven going into this game.”

“That’s part of what separates good from great. Maturity will allow you to understand that the more success you have? The more focus you’ve got to have because now people are giving you their best shot every time you play. That’s a maturity aspect of the game,” Hamilton said. “I thought we exposed a little immaturity by not understanding that you’ve got to turn it up a notch every time you play when you’ve got the bullseye on you.”

Florida State was 11-6, including a 5-1 mark in conference play with the only loss being at North Carolina, coming into the game on Saturday afternoon.

Even so, Clemson, who had dropped four of five and five of the last eight coming in, was the better team in Tallahassee. After an even first half, they led from start to finish in the second half to take it by 11. They did so by shooting better than 50% from the field and 40% from three, outrebounding the ‘Noles by 17, and finishing with 10 more assists.

Still, while they faltered this weekend, Hamilton knows there’s a lot of season left for his team, especially in the ACC. Florida State still sits near the top of the conference for now even after the loss. That’s why, moving forward, he hopes his team has a better approach considering what’s still out there for them to play for in a league that’s currently up for grabs.

“That’s an opportunity for us to learn. I told the guys that I’m not really sure that anybody is going to win the ACC with only two losses. So we’ve still got a lot more work to do,” said Hamilton. “We have just as much of a chance as anybody else. It depends on who’s going to go out, grow, mature, and come with the right frame of mind every night. That’s the team that’s going to win.”

“In the ACC, to be honest with you? On any given night, anyone is capable of winning. There’s not anyone that’s overshadowing anybody,” Hamilton said. “It’s going to be the team that has the ability to come as close as they can to being consistent to who they are, offensively and defensively. That’s the team that’s going to win.”