FSU coach Leonard Hamilton on the Seminoles’ unique, unselfish culture

The 4th-seeded Florida State Seminoles’ dominant performance over the 12-seeded Murray State Racers was a full-team force tonight. The ’Noles had four players score 9+ points and 45 of their 90 points came from the bench in their round two rout of Murray State. Every single scholarship Seminole on the roster contributed, and Coach Leonard Hamilton took time to address the special nature of his unselfish Seminoles’ squad.

On Florida State’s depth:

“You know, we’ve had nine or ten different guys lead us in scoring. Some people find that challenging and maybe a little unorthodox, but that’s the way we have to play with the talent that we have in order for us to be successful and our guys have bought into that. We have a tremendous unselfish culture. Tonight, Mfiondu came to me at least three times begging me not to put him back in the game because he wanted Christ Koumadje to gain confidence moving forward. Matter of fact, before I even asked him, he came up and said Coach, please don’t put me back in the game. Let Christ play so he can gain confidence and move forward.”

On the Seminole’s unselfish culture:

“But we created that culture where the guys pull for each other. That’s unusual in today’s time when everybody’s trying to get numbers to impress people. But we’ve created that type of culture on our team, and I think that’s one reason why you see the guys playing together. They really feel that they’re 18 strong, and that’s the motivating factor, I think, behind the focus that we have displayed especially tonight.”

On playing for Phil Cofer’s dad, Mike Cofer, who passed away on Thursday:

“We had a very emotional situation when we found out about Mike Cofer. And I think that our team decided that we were going to dedicate the remainder of the season to Mike. And I thought that had a lot to do with the emotions that he displayed tonight.”

See Hamilton’s full locker room video below:

See Hamilton’s full post-game press conference below: