Florida State men's basketball is focused on the moment.

Playing in one of the most competitive basketball conferences in the country in the ACC, the Seminoles can't afford to look back or ahead.

FSU has found mental success off of its short-term memory and business-like approach to games.

The Seminoles (11-6 overall, 5-1 ACC) are currently tied for second in league standings behind North Carolina (14-3, 6-0) and coming off an emotional 84-75 win over Miami Wednesday.

"The truth of the matter is nobody's gonna have any special opportunities at the end of the year if you don't have a short memory," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "If you win the game, you celebrate you enjoy it, you learn, you take the pluses, you see the negatives, you try to improve the negatives and try to enhance on the positive.

"Any other frame of mind can end up being a distraction."

On to the next

Since it turned fulltime to its ACC slate against Georgia Tech on Jan. 3, FSU has continued to win.

It has rattled off five straight victories leading into Saturday's showdown against Clemson (12-5, 2-4) at 4 p.m. at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.

It's the Seminoles' longest win streak since they won six straight from Jan. 8 to Jan. 22. in the 2021-22 season. FSU's win over Miami was also an important Quad 1 win when it comes to determining whether or not it'll make the NCAA Tournament in March.

However, The Seminoles say once that becomes the focus, then the winning will stop. FSU had dropped five of seven games, including its ACC opener at North Carolina 78-70 Dec. 2, to end December.

"When you start getting high because of a victory, then you end up getting low because of a loss," Hamilton said. "You need to have the same approach. Every time you go out to practice and every time you go to the game. That's hard to do, but mature teams with a winning mentality. That's what their goal is to play the same way."

And that mentality, if everything pans out, could help FSU in March.

Senior guard Darin Green Jr. said that the mental approach is almost as if the team was playing in the postseason. Focusing on what's in front of them in order to win and advance.

"We're just taking it one game at a time. It's almost as if you were in a March Madness situation," Green said. "It's kind of approach it like that you just stay humble and keep working hard and I think we'd be good."

Turning it around

Green is one of the players that's logging heavy minutes last season and this season. He averaged 34 minutes last season and now 31 minutes a game, averaging 13.4 points per game. The biggest difference he's noticed from last season is the buy-into the system that FSU has put in place.

On the court, that's allowed FSU to execute.

"Last year we kept saying 'we're gonna turn around' and we never did," Green said. "You don't have time to just keep saying it, you've gotta put it in action. I think that's why I'm glad we did is we started doing it this year."

Green himself has seen improvement in his own game as one of the top 3-point shooters in the ACC. In conference games, he's shooting .455 from deep, which ranks fourth and is averaging 2.5 3-pointers per game, which ties for ninth.

Saturday is expected to be a shooting battle between Green and Clemson guard Joesph Girard III, who is averaging three 3-pointers a game and is shooting at .409 from deep.

The Tigers are looking to have some short-term memory of their own as they lost to Georgia Tech, 93-90, in double overtime at home on Wednesday.

Focusing on self

Conference play is grueling for 15 teams in the ACC. A little over a week ago, Wake Forest was leading the conference standings, now, dropping to fourth after losses to FSU and NC State. Duke opened its conference slate at 0-1, and so did the Seminoles, and both have not lost in 2024 so far.

Games have been tight for the Seminoles as it has won its last five games by an average of just 7.4 points. But having a self-focused mindset and short-term memory has been the mental key to success for the Seminoles, and it has no plans on losing that focus.

"What we have to do is not have your mind concentrated on who your opponent is. Your opponent is your efficiency," Hamilton said. "How close can you come to executing your game plan offensively and defensively against your opponent...Now, in each game, there'll be some tweaks, but because of the system that we develop, we try to worry more about ourselves than we do our opponents."

How to watch Saturday's FSU-Clemson men's basketball game

Who: FSU vs. Clemson

Where/When: Saturday, Jan. 20, 4 p.m.; Tucker Civic Center

TV/Radio: ACC Network; 101.5 FM

Check out the ACC men's basketball standings

North Carolina 6-0, 14-3

N.C. State 5-1, 13-4

FSU 5-1, 11-6

Duke 4-1, 13-3

Wake Forest 4-2, 12-5

Miami 3-3, 12-5

Syracuse 3-3, 12-5

Virginia 3-3, 12-5

Clemson 2-4, 12-5

BC 2-4, 11-6

Virginia Tech 2-4, 10-7

Georgia Tech 2-4, 9-8

Notre Dame 2-5, 9-8

Pitt 1-5, 10-7

Louisville 1-5, 6-11

Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on X @jackgwilliams.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State men's basketball's short term mindset translating to ACC success