What you need to know: No. 11 Florida State at Notre Dame
MEN’S BASKETBALL
WHO: Notre Dame (9-14 overall; 6-11 ACC) vs. No. 11 Florida State (15-4; 10-3)
WHERE: Purcell Pavilion (9,149)
WHEN: Saturday at noon
TICKETS: None available. A limited number of students will be allowed to attend, but outside of family member of players, fans are not permitted in the arena.
TV: ESPN2.
RADIO: WSBT (960 AM/96.1 FM).
ONLINE: Follow every Notre Dame game with live updates from Tribune beat writer Tom Noie at twitter.com/tnoieNDI
NOTING: Guard M.J. Walker finished six-of-nine from 3-point range for 18 points in first-place Florida State’s 93-64 home victory Wednesday over Boston College. It was the Seminoles’ 25th consecutive home win in conference play. Fifteen Seminoles logged game minutes Wednesday, including nine in double figures. The Seminoles scored 53 points in the first half and led for 37:16. … The Seminoles have won two of their last three league road games. They are 3-3 on the road in league play with wins at Louisville, Pittsburgh and Miami and losses at Clemson, Georgia Tech and North Carolina. … Florida State returned three starters off last year’s team that finished 26-5, 16-4 in the league. The Seminoles were named league champions after the coronavirus canceled the ACC tournament. … Florida State ranks first in the league in scoring offense (79.9) scoring margin (+10.5), field goal percentage defense (.399), blocked shots (5.2) and 3-point field goal percentage (.393). ... Notre Dame leads the ACC in assist/turnover ratio (1.49). ... Walker is the only Seminole in the Top 20 in the league in scoring. He’s 20th at a team-high 14.3 ppg. ... Freshman guard Scottie Barnes ranks fifth in the league in assists (4.44) and third in assist/turnover ratio (2.22). ... Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton signed a contract extension earlier this week that will run through the 2024-25 season. The 72-year-old Hamilton is in his 19th season in Tallahassee. He’s earned ACC coach of the year three times. He’s fifth all-time in the ACC in wins with 375. … Florida State is 70-17 overall and 40-12 in the ACC since 2018-19. … Since becoming the all-time winningest coach in Notre Dame program history in January 2018, Mike Brey is 24-46 in ACC play. Brey has won 446 games in his 21 seasons in South Bend. … Florida State has had seven games affected by coronavirus issues, including a pause from Feb. 1 to 11; Notre Dame has had eight games impacted by virus issues. … Florida State has been ranked for all but two weeks this season. … Notre Dame is 0-7 against ranked teams this season and has lost 28 straight against ranked teams. … Florida State leads the all-time series 7-4, 1-3 at Purcell Pavilion and 6-3 as ACC colleagues. The Seminoles have won the last three in the series after the Irish won three straight. … Notre Dame has lost four straight and five of seven. ... The Irish look to avoid finishing with single-digit victories for the first time since going 9-18 in 1995-96. … Next up for both teams is next week’s ACC Tournament. Picked in preseason to finish 12th in the league, Notre Dame would be the No. 12 seed and play No. 13 Wake Forest in Tuesday’s first game at 2 p.m., at Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum.
QUOTING: “We haven’t shown any of that (competitive pride) lately. We haven’t been able to protect the paint. Not that we’re the most physical group, but we’ve got more than we’re showing. We have a little bit of when we don’t get a good offensive possession, then we hang our heads a little bit on the defensive end. That is an amazingly difficult trap to fall into. You’re wounded, quite frankly.”
—Notre Dame coach Mike Brey
— Tom Noie
