Leonard Hamilton shares what battling with North Carolina says about Florida State

In the end, North Carolina was too much for Florida State to overcome. Still, it was a close game and Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton was happy with the overall effort from his team.

Hamilton explained that the close game is proof that Florida State is getting better this season but he did also emphasize that the team still has plenty of room to grow.

“Well, that means that we’re getting better,” Leonard Hamilton said. “Early in the year, we had a lot of coming and going…It didn’t allow us to get the right rotation that we seem to have now. We seem to be in a good place with us learning more about how to utilize who we are.”

In particular, Leonard Hamilton emphasized that many of the challenges the team has been facing are mental challenges.

“We got a couple of guys who are still adjusting mentally and emotionally. This is not as easy as one would think…there’s adjustments that you have to make when you’re in this environment. If we can just worry about that which we can control.”

At the end, the Tar Heels were too much for the Seminoles to deal with. However, Leonard Hamilton emphasized that the goal is still to correct the things that they struggled with in this game and season, particularly emphasizing consistency.

“Give Carolina credit for what they did. Let’s come back and evaluate and correct those things. That effort seems to be a little bit more consistent. Early in the year, I thought we were inconsistent coming up and down and our highs and our lows. We seem to have leveled off now with us expecting from each other what level of effort we give,” Hamilton said.

“Now, we have to get that execution part down where we’re moving the ball, letting our system work for us to get some high percentage shots other than just making plays. If we’re a little bit more of a playmaking team, then we’ve got to add in let’s develop, let’s get offense from our system. You’ll see us continue to get better.”

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

Recently, Leonard Hamilton broke down how human nature has caught up to Florida State during ACC play.

“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. 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,” Hamilton said.

“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. 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.”