Game Thread | Florida State at Notre Dame
Florida State (9-6, 3-1) at Notre Dame (7-9, 2-3)
Date: January 13th
Time: 2:15 PM ET
Where: Purcell Pavilion | South Bend, Ind.
TV: The CW | Tom Werme and Jordan Cornette
Line: Florida State -1.5
O/U: 134.5
QUICK FACTS
- Florida State leads the all-time series 10-5.
- The Seminoles won the last meeting 84-71 last January in South Bend
- Notre Dame ranks No. 2 in the ACC in scoring defense at 65.1 ppg
- Freshman Markus Burton has scored in double figures in nine straight games
- Burton (4.1 apg) is the only player on the Irish roster averaging more than 1.0 assists per game
- ESPN’s Matchup Predictor: 52.8% in favor of Florida State
PROJECTED STARTERS
NOTRE DAME
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Markus Burton | 15.9 | 3.3 | 4.1 |
| JR Konieczny | 9.4 | 6.0 | 0.8 |
| Julian Roper II | 7.6 | 4.4 | 0.6 |
| Carey Booth | 6.6 | 4.4 | 0.5 |
| Kebba Njie | 4.9 | 5.8 | 0.7 |
FLORIDA STATE
| Name | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| Jalen Warley | 6.6 | 2.7 | 2.3 |
| Darin Green Jr. | 12.9 | 2.8 | 0.9 |
| Jamir Watkins | 13.1 | 6.1 | 3.4 |
| De’Ante Green | 6.5 | 2.7 | 0.6 |
| Baba Miller | 8.0 | 5.0 | 1.5 |
TEAM STATS
| STAT | FLORIDA STATE | NOTRE DAME |
| Scoring Offense | 77.3 | 63.3 |
| Scoring Defense | 74.1 | 65.1 |
| FG% | 44.1% | 40.1% |
| Rebounds | 35.6 | 37.4 |
| Assists | 13.4 | 9.9 |
| Blocks | 4.1 | 2.7 |
| Steals | 9.2 | 5.9 |
| Turnovers | 12.4 | 13.6 |
THOUGHTS
There have been many changes in the ACC throughout the years as players and coaches come go. Notre Dame fielded various styles of play and roster builds under Mike Brey, but one team has remained a constant and that’s Florida State.
Leonard Hamilton is in his 22nd year in Tallahassee and his teams remain the same. The Seminoles are going to be athletic and extremely long. Now, Hamilton doesn’t have multiple players over 7’0 this year, but he does have five players over 6’10.
Micah Shrewsberry hasn’t faced Hamilton as a head coach, but he’s well aware of the makeup of the Noles.
“They’re so good defensively in how they play,” stated Shrewsberry. “Just disruptive. That’s probably the best word for it. Whatever you were doing up until this point this season, just scrap it. Florida State is a totally different preparation. We have to play different - not defensively, but offensively, you have to scrap it. You have to come up with a new game plan of how you need to attack them. They’re great in transition because they turn you over.”
Offense has been a challenge for Notre Dame, so Shrewberry’s words are ones to watch, given his team’s inability to show discipline and make routine decisions at points. Now, Notre Dame is certainly playing much better basketball than a month ago, but for a young team that has struggled with change, it could be a deciding factor, especially when you consider how veteran Irish teams have struggled against Hamilton’s defense.
The Irish are fresh off a big win at Georgia Tech as it was the program's first win on the road in 23 months and big picture, it means the Irish are 2-3 in ACC play instead of the dreaded 1-4.
“We lost two home games, we gotta get one back somewhere to make up for that,” explained Shrewsberry. “There’s no better time to start it than right here. This is an opportunity for us to get one of those back and we went and did it. We can’t take our foot off the gas at home and we gotta find a way at some point in time to get another one on the road.
“That’s what we talked about it, we want to hold serve as much as possible at home and then pick some off on the road. And for us to do that, gives us some confidence. We gotta come back and do our job here.”
Notre Dame’s momentum has come from the defensive end. The Irish defense is one of the best in the ACC and life has been difficult for opponents.
Florida State isn’t an offensive juggernaut, so Saturday’s game could turn into a classic defensive struggle.
“When we get people in the halfcourt, we’re tough to score on. We’re getting them into the shots that we want them to take and then we’re rebounding it. That’s a simple, simple formula, but there’s no guarantee that you do it every single game. You gotta put the effort in to do it every single game. You gotta put the effort in to do it every single game. You got to put the preparation in to do it every single game.
“It’s pretty cool for us to see because I give them an update after every game of, ‘Where are we? What are we doing? Here’s where we are.’ We’ve creeped into the top 50 defensively in the country. The guys are doing their jobs and they’re starting to buy into it.”
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