FSU basketball vs. Notre Dame: Game thread, how to watch, stream, matchup notes, odds

Florida State men’s basketball (5-13, 3-4 ACC), is set to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-9, 1-6 ACC) tonight on the road in South Bend.

The Seminoles are coming off a 67-58 loss to the Virginia Cavaliers in a game that was consistently out of reach for FSU.

“This is not the way we have been accustomed to playing. I was surprised that the margin of our loss was nine points,” head coach Leonard Hamilton said after the game. “We did not play with that sense of urgency.”

“Our guys psychologically seem to be pacing themselves to try to get through the heavy minutes that they have been challenged to play...I thought right from the beginning of the game, this was not the pace that we practice at, offensively or defensively. I thought that we were a step slow.”

From Tomahawk Nation’s Max Escarpio:

Virginia was fresh off back-to-back wins against ACC opponents, while FSU entered the game losing two of their last three. The momentum within Florida State’s program has been on the rise, but that fire they played with in the new year definitely lost its spark.

With just under 10 minutes remaining, the fans started to walk and the game looked too far in reach of the Seminoles, down 56-40. The Noles might’ve been playing in front of the biggest home crowd they’ve seen all year, but the game was anything but exciting.

It’s tough to play against a team shooting 52% from three, which is exactly what UVA was doing. With 7:32 left in the game, Virginia poured in 11 of their 21 three-point attempts. It was an average game from both parties, but FSU’s kryptonite (defending the three) was highlighted yet again.

The Seminoles and Fighting Irish have already faced off once this season, a late December matchup that ended in a narrow one-point victory for Florida State at home in Tallahassee.

Notre Dame has gone 2-4 since that loss to Florida State, beating Georgia Tech 73-72 and Jacksonville 59-43.

The Fighting Irish most recently dropped a 78-73 game to the Syracuse Orange that Notre Dame had plenty of opportunity to win.

From our SB Nation sister site, One Foot Down:

Coming off its first ACC win of the season earlier this week, Notre Dame men’s basketball headed to New York for a chance at revenge against Syracuse. What looked like it would be a second straight win for the Irish (9-9, 1-6 ACC) and a potential steppingstone to a bounce-back run in the conference turned into a choke job. The Orange (12-6, 5-2 ACC) pulled off a 12-point comeback in the second half to sweep the regular season series.

The Irish went almost the entirety of the final three minutes without scoring as they turned the ball over twice and went cold beyond the arc. A season high in three-pointers made (15) wasn’t enough as Notre Dame finished the game 1-9 from deep. It was a slow and painful death as the shots that were previously falling kept clanging off the rim and Syracuse’s lead began to grow.

Some additional game notes, via FSU Sports Info:

SEMINOLES’ CLEVELAND PLAYING FOR EIGHTH CONSECUTIVE DOUBLE DOUBLE AT NOTRE DAME

Florida State’s Matthew Cleveland enters Tuesday’s game against Notre Dame looking to secure his eighth consecutive double double in points and rebounds. He has totaled consecutive double doubles against USC Upstate (December 13), St. John’s (December 17), Notre Dame (December 21), at Duke (December 31), against Georgia Tech (January 7), at Wake Forest (January 11) and against Virginia. His current streak of double doubles has come against teams from three different conferences (ACC, Big East and Big South) and against one nationally ranked team (No. 12/13 Virginia) with four coming at home in the Donald L. Tucker Center, one coming in Cameron Indoor Stadium, one coming in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum and one coming in the FLA Live Arena in Sunrise. The FLA Live Arena is the home of the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic and the Florida Panthers of the NHL. Cleveland is currently chasing Reggie Royals – the last Seminole to earn eight consecutive double doubles during the 1970-71 season. Royals finished the 1970-71 season with nine consecutive double doubles and totaled 23 double doubles that season. The school record for double doubles in a single season is 24 by Dave Cowens during the 1968-69 season.

FLORIDA STATE PLAYS WELL ON THE ROAD UNDER HAMILTON

Florida State has been one of the better road teams in the ACC in the last five seasons under Head Coach Leonard Hamilton and his staff. The Seminoles have won 18 of their last 39 ACC road games with wins on 10 different ACC road courts. The Seminoles most recently won at Notre Dame, 73-71, 0n March 4, 2020.

FLORIDA STATE ON THE BLOCKS

Three members of Florida State’s starting five (Matthew Cleveland, 3; Caleb Mils, 2; Darin Green, 1) totaled all six of Florida State’s blocked shots against Virginia on Saturday in Tallahassee. The Seminoles have blocked 10 shots in the last two games (5.0 bpg) and enter Tuesday’s game against Notre Dame averaging 3.6 blocks per game. Florida State blocked its ACC season-high of seven shots in its victory over Louisville (December 10), totaled six against Virginia on January 14 and four each against Wake Forest (January 11) and Virginia (December 3). Florida State blocked its season-high of 11 shots in its victory over Mercer on November 21.

According to DraftKings, the Seminoles are a 5-point underdog to the Fighting Irish, with the over/under set at 140.5 points.

Florida State vs. Notre Dame how to watch, TV info

Date

Tuesday, January 17

Time

7 p.m.

TV

ESPNU

Stream

ESPN, Hulu

Listen

Seminoles Radio Network