Florida State never trailed in its 61-60 victory over Miami on Saturday, extending its winning streak to seven games this season.
It also completed a stretch of four games in eight days, which may have caused some fatigue in the second half vs. the Hurricanes.
Miami nearly came all the way back from a 26-point deficit in the second half to beat Florida State. Isaiah Wong’s mid-range jumper went just wide of the hoop, giving the Seminoles their ninth straight win over their in-state rival.
After the game, coach Leonard Hamilton was honest in his assessment of his team. He said Florida State perhaps played its best and worst halves of basketball all season on Saturday.
Those kinds of swings can happen at the end of a tough portion of your schedule.
“Four games in eight days took a toll there,” Hamilton said in his postgame press conference. “In the first two or three minutes of the game, (Anthony) Polite and Caleb (Mills) came out of the game two minutes into the second half. That’s when I knew we were going to be a little challenged.
“I think fatigue had something to do with cutting a little slow and not meeting the pass as much as we were in the first half. I was concerned all morning about four games in eight days, and I was pleasantly surprised in the first half when we played with so much energy.”
Mills found some energy in the final minutes of the win over Miami. He finished with a team-high 16 points and made several key buckets down the stretch.
Florida State also defeated Syracuse, Duke and North Florida during this stretch. The Seminoles will now get a few days off before facing Georgia Tech on Wednesday.
Tipoff vs. the Yellow Jackets is at 9:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
