What to know about Notre Dame men's basketball vs. Florida State
Florida State has as many wins this season as it did all of last season (nine), but its non-conference state still wasn’t exactly ideal. The Seminoles got blown out by in-state rival Florida, lost at home to Georgia and closed out the non-con with a 78-75 loss to Lipscomb.
For those wondering, Lipscomb plays in the Atlantic Sun, is nicknamed the Bisons and has been to one NCAA Tournament in school history (2018).
But as Atlantic Coast Conference play began, longtime Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton has his team playing much better. The Seminoles are 3-0 since the calendar flipped to 2024 with home wins over Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and most recently (most impressively, too) Wake Forest.
Florida State’s calling card is its aggressiveness on defense, which ranks top-30 nationally in steals per game with 9.2. The Seminoles aren’t great at preventing teams from scoring, but their disruptiveness concerns Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry.
“Whatever you were doing up until this point in the season, just scrap it,” Shrewsberry said. “Florida State’s a totally different preparation. We have to play different.
“Not defensively, like, we have to do the same things, but offensively, you gotta scrap it. You have to come up with a new game plan of how you need to attack them.”
The Irish and Seminoles tip off at 2:15 p.m. ET on Saturday at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend. Here’s everything you need to know.
Notre Dame vs. Florida State game information
- Teams: Notre Dame (7-9, 2-3 ACC) vs. Florida State (9-6, 3-1 ACC)
- Date: Saturday, Jan. 13
- Location: Purcell Pavilion in South Bend
- Time: 2:15 p.m. ET
- Television: The CW
- Radio: 960 WSBT-AM in South Bend
- Radio announcer: Tony Simeone
Matchup notables
• Like Notre Dame before its win at Georgia Tech, Florida State has not won a true road game this season. The Seminoles’ last road win was Feb. 25, 2023 at Miami.
• Florida State’s scoring offense ranks in the top third in the nation, presenting another challenge for the Notre Dame defense. The Irish have gone from “Huh, their defense is getting better,” to “Actually their defense is really, really good.” They held each of their first five ACC opponents under their season-long points-per-game marks by an average of 16.82, and they held Miami and Duke to season-low scoring totals of 62 and 67, respectively.
• FSU redshirt junior forward Jamir Watkins, a transfer from VCU, leads the Seminoles with 13.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Graduate guard Darin Green Jr. is close behind in points at 12.9, and he’s the team’s most dangerous 3-point shooter at 41.7 percent.
• Including Watkins and Green, six Florida State players average over 1 steal per game.
