Hamilton: "There's No Fluke With Those Guys"
Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton met with the media after his team's 78-73 home win over NC State.
Opening Statement:
This is what you call a typical ACC blowout, a five-point victory. Every game in the ACC is just extremely competitive. There’s no fluke with those (NC State) guys, they shot 19 threes. They’re fundamentally sound and play extremely hard.
They overplayed us and pressured us so much and that created a lot of indecision on our part. Just about the whole game we were never really comfortable with their defensive pressure. Our offense normally is built to handle over plays and people pressuring all over the court, but it’s one thing to practice it and another to go against it at the quality of defensive pressure they put on us.
But we adjusted. I thought there in the second half where we were able to get in the lane and create some offensive ball screens and we were able to get enough baskets to keep enough separation for us to win the game.
We had a lot of heroes, I thought we had a lot of big plays in the second half that made a difference, I thought the David’s big steal and layup under pressure was big and RaiQuan’s (Gray) big rebound. I looked up and we had blocked nine shots. Our two center positions (Christ Koumadje and Mfiondu Kabengele) -- I thought we had great play out of our two big guys for 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks. We’ll take that any night of the week.
We had a lot of guys that grew up a little bit tonight and they got to feel what it’s like to be in the pressure situations and make these decisions and finish games. I was very proud of those guys because this game could’ve gone either way.
On Florida State’s Resilience...
I’m not really sure that I would like to have an imperfect offensive game that I can win, that’s ok with me. In the ACC you have to give the opposing team a little credit. It’s not always what you’re not doing, because in our league you have guys that are well coached, loaded athletes. I don’t like that word imperfect because the defense has something to do with that. That’s just how it is,
North Carolina had a more contained defense and we didn’t handle that very well. This team came out and over played us and that’s just the nature of what you have. That’s just the nature of what it takes to be competitive in the ACC night in and night out and that’s why I’m very proud of my guys.
On Responding Every Time NC State Scored...
No doubt about it. We got the stops, we got the deflections and steals and I thought we had several situations where we executed our offense to perfection, and we were able to get high percentage shots.
When we missed, I thought we were able to get some offensive rebounds and keep the play going. We made big play after big play and I think that shows our team is growing up a lot and you like to see that this time of year.
On fouling in the last nine seconds, strategy in the huddle...
We wanted to foul under ten (seconds). I think we called a time-out with sixteen seconds left on the shot clock, they had gone nine-of-19 from the three so there was a 50 percent chance they were going to make a three. So we’d rather them take the chance of shooting a free throw and at least we would get the ball back with at least a one- point lead and the ball out of bounds. Fortunately for us they missed the free-throw and we got the rebound.
On Florida State’s Execution In The Last 10 Seconds Of The Game...
I thought that was guys following instructions, just like the out of bounds play. They had overplayed us so much that we threw the home-run pass and got an easy basket on the other end. That just shows that our guys are learning how to execute and focused and executing the little things you have to do to win games of this nature.
On Winning 48 Of The Last 51 Games At Home...
Are you sure about that? Wow. I hadn’t thought about that. In reality you’re proud of that and it means something, but the league is at such a tense level that you just have to prepare for every game and hope you can win another game. I think that says a lot about our fans, they give us tremendous support. I think our administration has made a lot of improvements and really supported us to give us a chance to continue to move the program forward.
I think it has to do with all the things we’ve added. I think our guys are responding to our fans and our fans are responding to our players and I think we’re developing a culture that’s giving us an opportunity to have one of the top records in the country. We try not to focus on that a whole lot, but it does mean a lot. We just want to work on those things that we can control and unfortunately none of those victories from the past can help us move forward, so I just try to stay in the moment. I focus on realizing the things we can control and making sure we’re mentally prepared and I thought today, our guys were locked in. If they are locked in it gives us the chance to play up to our potential and I like our chances from that stand point.
On Florida State’s Players Growing Up From The Beginning Of The Season Until Now...
I thought that we maintained a tremendous amount of poise; for a tight game like that I didn’t see any panic. I thought their body language was positive. I thought there was communication when it came to hurdles that occurred and they were calling each other out and challenging each other to do the right thing. Those are positive signs as opposed to kids making mistakes and sometimes, human natures causes you to be a little disappointed. That’s when we call a power clap and three to five second complain and move on to the next play.
On Florida State’s 17-19 Performance From The Foul Line In The Second Half...
Wow. That was huge. The first half they went to the free-throw line and the second-half we were able to be more aggressive. Since they were playing us so tight and all over the floor, we changed to try to go downhill and attack them from north and south, opposed to east and west. Because they were playing us so aggressively, we were able to get to the foul line as result and outstand the aggressive play.
On The Success Of Terance Mann...
I wish we could take a lot of credit for that but Terance (Mann) came in as a freshman what we like to call a stat stuffer. He affects the game in every way, rebounds, tip-ins, he brings the ball down the floor. He makes good decisions with the ball and he’s a positive influence in the locker room. He’s one of the guys we’re going to look back on and realize he was so instrumental in those 51 games that the young man was talking about, because he is a part of that success.
On Florida State Putting Together A Full Defensive Effort...
In the first half they shot 26 percent so that huge. Overall, they only shot 40 percent but obviously they’re a good basketball team. They shot 55 percent the second half and I thought we were still playing hard defensively. They were just making great plays and they’re a great team and have a great scheme and system. If I remember correctly, we had a seven-point lead and they might have hit three 3’s in a row. They hit 3 threes in a row, and I thought we contested them and defended them as well as they could be defended but that’s the quality of what you’re playing against in the ACC.
On Trent Forrest...
He’s a competitor. He loves basketball and he represents what the All-Conference spirit means. He’s a Seminole through and through. He’s a legacy guy, he’s Amp Lee’s cousin. It means an awful lot to him and he’s not 100 percent but he gives you what he has every time he walks on the court.
It’s a true measure of a person’s character, how they response to adversity; when things are not going well how do you respond. It’s easy when everything is going great and you feel wonderful but how do you respond when you’re not quite at your best. It says a lot about his character and what being a basketball player at Florida State means to him because he gives us everything, he has every day. On the court and off the court.