The Notre Dame men’s basketball team entered its Saturday afternoon tilt against Florida State with dwindling hopes of an invite to the ACC tournament bracket. Those chances fell further after a 82-79 loss in Purcell Pavilion.
Notre Dame came into the match with three consecutive losses to Virginia, Syracuse and Louisville. The Irish are just 2-8 in conference play, which leaves them out of the current ACC tournament bracket. Florida State came to South Bend at 3-6 in ACC play, but riding back-to-back wins against Cal and Stanford.
The start of the game was anything but positive for the Irish. The first Irish possession ended with a shot clock violation and Florida State’s Lajae Jones drilled a three on the other end. Little did the Irish know, that three from Jones was only the beginning of a barrage from Florida State. The Seminoles knocked down three more threes on their next three possessions, triggering an early Irish timeout.
The Seminoles came out of the timeout aggressively on the defensive end of the floor, eventually stripping junior guard Braeden Shrewsberry. They converted that turnover into their fifth made three-pointer of the afternoon. The Irish were already facing a 2-15 deficit by the under-16 minute media timeout. The Notre Dame defense had no answer for Florida State’s shooting.
Shortly after the timeout, the Seminoles knocked the ball from junior guard Logan Imes’ hands and then converted at the rim, showing their willingness and ability to attack from anywhere. Notre Dame’s first field goal was a Shrewsberry three-pointer that came after almost six minutes of play. Overall, the Florida State defense limited driving lanes and Notre Dame’s offense looked frantic, as evidenced on their very next trip down the floor when freshman guard Jalen Haralson turned the ball over and Martin Somerville drained another FSU three-pointer.
Micah Shrewsberry said after the game, “I gotta have us ready to play from the start. I thought we were way too casual.”
By the time sophomore guard Sir Mohammed made the second Irish field goal, Florida State was more than tripling its early scoring at 7-22. After the under-12 minute timeout, Mohammed blocked an attempted FSU layup and a wide-open graduate student forward Carson Towt slammed it home for two. However, the lackadaisical Irish offense soon committed another turnover. The subsequent transition layup, a highlight-reel block from Robert McCray V and a three from Chauncey Wiggins, the life was sucked back out of the Irish.
Towt and sophomore guard Brady Koehler both missed the front ends of one-for-one opportunities, a bad omen for later in the game. Through the next several minutes of play, the Irish showed primarily three types of offensive possessions: forcing highly contested drives late in the shot clock after a relatively stagnant first several seconds, rushing ill-advised three-pointers or getting bailed out by a Florida State foul. Meanwhile, the Notre Dame defense could not prevent Florida State’s AJ Swinton from joining the three point party.
Baskets from Mohammed, Shrewsberry and sophomore guard Cole Certa helped break that pattern, cutting the deficit to 12 by the under-4 minute media timeout. The final 3:32 of the half would be critical for the Irish, who had a little momentum on their side but could not afford to get any deeper into a hole. Shrewsberry knocked down a three to finally cut the FSU lead to single digits. Swinton answered for the Seminoles with a wildly impressive dunk, but Koehler and Mohammed together cut off an errant pass on their next defensive possession, and Mohammed went on to nail a three. Mohammed put together one of the best halves of his career providing a little energy to the desperate team. He finished the first half with nine points, a steal, two rebounds and as the only Notre Dame player with a positive plus/minus.
Florida State took a nine-point lead into the locker room. The Irish of the last few minutes were a significantly more promising team than they had been at the beginning of the game, but there was still plenty of work to do. Haralson started the second half strong for the Irish, finishing at the rim, deflecting a pass out of bounds to disrupt a play on the other half of the floor, and then driving to convert an old-fashioned three point play. Towt also made a difficult layup and drew a foul, but missed his foul shot. A Wiggins three-pointer extended the FSU lead back to 10.
In an unfortunate turn of events for the Irish, Haralson picked up his third personal foul, so Notre Dame’s most dominant player up to that point in the second half headed to the bench. Other guys stepped up to keep Notre Dame’s momentum alive, though. A made three-pointer from Shrewsberry made it 44-52 heading into the under-16. Shortly thereafter, Shrewsberry buried another three, this one from the monogram. Sophomore forward Garrett Sundra added a layup extending the Irish run to 8-0 and cut it to a one-possession game. The second half was shaping up to be a competitive battle entirely unlike the first.
Haralson reentered the game at 12:36, with the score 51-54, but almost immediately picked up his fourth personal, so his return was short lived. The stretch that followed featured both offenses in their rhythm, with FSU knocking down two threes and Notre Dame answering with a layup and a three of their own, all within less than a minute. After the under-12 timeout Certa confidently drained a corner three. Momentum swung briefly back in Florida State’s favor after Koehler turned over the ball leading to a Jones dunk, but Certa nailed another three to ensure that did not last long.
Certa scored again at 5:40 to cut it back to a one-possession game and trigger an FSU timeout. The Irish had erased 15 of what had once been an 18-point lead, and their offense looked fluid and poised. Sundra then made two free throws. With five minutes left, the Irish were down just one, the best situation they had been in all game. Though FSU’s Alex Steen finished a layup, extending FSU’s lead back to three, the Irish still were applying pressure rather than under pressure, a radical change from the first half.
With a little over four minutes left, Haralson reentered the game, and it appeared that his nearly nine minutes on the bench had done nothing to dampen his momentum. He quickly was able to draw a foul and go 2-2 from the charity stripe. Only a few possessions later, he turned a defensive rebound into a transition dunk, giving the Irish a huge energy boost and their first tie since 0-0. However, the freshman picked up his fifth foul on the next defensive possession and exited the game for good.
Imes made up for Haralson’s absence by draining a three despite being fouled in the process. Wiggins answered to restore a two-point Seminole lead. As minutes left on the clock turned to seconds, FSU inbounded the ball with significant difficulty against the full court pressure of the Irish. From there it became a fouling game, with the final 39 seconds lasting an eternity. Jones missed the first half of his one-and-one, and Towt was quickly fouled after he secured the rebound. Towt had yet to make a free throw, and he unfortunately extended that streak, going 0-2.
Jones was fouled again, and made both attempts this time, making it 79-75. Koehler then scored for the Irish on a jumper. Wiggins was fouled but missed both free throws, much to the relief of the Irish faithful. After Koehler secured the rebound, Micah Shrewsberry called a timeout to direct the Irish offense. FSU smartly chose to foul Towt, who missed another pair at the line.
“[Towt] has been struggling from the line ... If he catches it, we foul,” Florida State head coach Luke Loucks said after the game.
The rebound from Towt’s miss fell to the Seminoles’ Somerville, whom Mohammed promptly fouled on a steal attempt. He made one of his two opportunities, and Florida State decided to foul, sending Shrewberry to the line. He made both free throws, but then Florida State made a pair as well.
With 6.7 seconds remaining and the score 82-79, Notre Dame took their final timeout. After a well executed quick offensive play, Certa had a wide open corner three, exactly the shot Notre Dame would have wanted. Unfortunately, he just could not find the bottom of the net on that one, and a second three-point attempt from Shrewsberry likewise was unsuccessful.
The clock expired, Florida State escaping with a three-point victory and knocking ND to 2-9 in ACC play. Despite Notre Dame’s valiant second-half comeback effort and found improved offensive rhythm, they ultimately need to learn how to win tight games. The next test for the Irish will be Tuesday on the road against SMU, where they will seek to snap what is now a four-game losing streak.
