Posted by BillFromTampa

“I thought we were very solid with our defensive fundamentals,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said.

“I think we were just playing solid basketball, sticking with our defensive principles,” Hamilton said. “That’s what experience will do for you.”

“We do all that we can not to let them get the ball on the inside,” Reid said. “And if we do front the post and get good help-side (defense), that’s what we’re going to keep working with.”

“I think what Ryan has done is accepted our defensive principles, and he’s executing,” Hamilton said. “He’s doing all the little things he wasn’t doing earlier.”

“When Reid wants to shut somebody down, he shuts them down,” Swann said.

“That was our biggest concern,” Hamilton said. “We had to neutralize those two guys inside. … They didn’t get into the offensive rhythm that they’re accustomed to, and I think Ryan and Uche had a lot to do with it.”

Regarding the 9 1/2 minute stretch where FSU held the Gophers to one basket, “I think that our experience, just playing together, hitting free throws and not turning the ball over under pressure was very good during that stretch,” Hamilton said.

“Whatever we did [defensively] I thought we did a good job,” FSU Coach Leonard Hamilton said.

“We’re still in the learning process and trying to figure out who we are,” Mims said. “A lot of people are calling us one-game wonders since we beat Florida, and we’re just trying to get past that.”

“We won against Florida and this was a big game, a national-television game against Minnesota,” said Douglas, who topped the 1,000-point mark on a 3-pointer early in the second half. “But our character is going to show when we come back Friday night and play Stetson if we can bring that level up even more.”

“That’s a very good night in anybody’s book,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said on Mims’ on court performance. “We might have to let him sing the national anthem in the locker room (every game) to get him tuned up.”

“You guys came to watch a basketball game and a Ralph Mims concert broke out,” Hamilton said.

“I come from a singing family,” Mims said. “I didn’t want my Florida State career to be over without trying this.”

“My man can blow,” Swann said. “He definitely deserves a contract somewhere.”

“Who knows,” the coach added, “we all might be coming back here one day to buy tickets to a Ralph Mims concert.”

“I was just having fun,” Mims said with a sheepish grin. “It’s my last year and I’m trying to do some different things to excite my senior year.”

“Ralph got us off to a good start,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “He wants to be a professional singer when he gets through playing college basketball, and we thought we would give him an opportunity to expose his vocal talents, and I thought he did a mighty fine job.”

“We really wanted to follow that Florida game up with a solid game on national TV,” said senior guard Isaiah Swann, who had 15 points and seven rebounds. “Because we knew everybody was watching us. And we knew it would be good for us come Selection Sunday.”

“We’re trying to change the culture,” Swann said of a program that hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1998.

“We’re trying to get past that,” he said. “I think we are, but we are still learning. We’re understanding how to win now,” said senior guard Ralph Mims.

“We’re not a real good rebounding team but we’re getting better. It’s an issue for our team,” Mims said. “Coach wanted us guards to help our big guys, to be in the right spot and to fight for every loose ball.”

“Ralph’s got big, wide shoulders,” Rich said. “He can mix it up in there. He’s a pretty big guard.”

“I thought our execution was pretty poor,” Smith said.

“We knew we had to have a good shooting night and take care of the ball,” said Smith, whose Gophers did neither.

“We’ve got to get some scoring from our veteran players,” Smith said.

“We didn’t think we were playing with the same intensity,” Smith said. “That’s something we have to do.”

“We were in the game, they were just better than us,” Westbrook said. “No excuses.”

“We needed a game like this so we can evaluate and measure where we are,” Smith said.