The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (18-11, 9-9) welcome the No. 7 Florida State Seminoles (24-5, 14-4) into Purcell Pavilion on Wednesday night for an Atlantic Coast Conference tilt. Tip-off in South Bend, Ind., is set for 9 pm EST.
A win for the visitors keeps them alive for a share of the ACC title, as the Seminoles enter Wednesday a half-game behind Louisville with two games to play. The win would also give Florida State the regular season sweep over the Fighting Irish.
The Seminoles escaped with an 85-84 win back on Jan. 25 in Tallahassee, Fla. The line favors Florida State -2.
What to Know – Florida State
With two wins to close out the regular season, the FSU Seminoles still have a chance to share the ACC regular-season title with the Louisville Cardinals. To do so, the Seminoles will have to bounce back on the road after suffering a second-half collapse at Clemson on Saturday.
The Seminoles blew a seven-point halftime lead to fall by one (70-69). The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Seminoles that included a win over conference-leader Louisville.
Three Seminoles are averaging in double figures this season led by sophomore guard Devin Vassell (12.9 ppg). Additional output is provided by senior guard Trent Forrest (11.7 ppg) and junior guard M.J. Walker (10.4 ppg).
In the last meeting against the Irish, sophomore redshirt Wyatt Wilkes came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points on 6-10 shooting from the field and blistering 5-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
Florida State ranks second in the conference, averaging 75.3 points per game. On the defense side, the Seminoles surrender 65.7 per game. FSU ranks lower in the advanced statistical categories than the polls rank them, ranking 11th in the NET and 16th in KenPom. The Seminoles are 6-5 on the road this season.
What to Know – Notre Dame
Notre Dame has two remaining regular-season contests and the ACC Tournament to strengthen its NCAA Tournament profile, which currently is not strong enough to warrant a spot in the 68 team field.
The Fighting Irish were dealt a serious blow on Saturday with a nine-point loss at Wake Forest. The loss stopped a three-game winning streak that included a pair of one-point victories.
Senior John Mooney leads the nation with 24 double-doubles this season. The forward averages 16.2 points per game and grabs a conference-leading 12.8 rebounds per game. Three other Irish averaging in double figures this season: senior guard T.J. Gibbs (13.2), sophomore guard Prentiss Hubbs (11.8) and reserve classmate Dane Goodwin (10.4)
The hosts enter the contest averaging 74.5 points per game while allowing 69.3 per game. Notre Dame leads the nation in both the least amount of fouls per game (12.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.74. The Irish have 481 assists to just 276 turnovers this season.
The Pick is In
Both teams are still playing for something, FSU a hopeful share of the ACC title and Notre Dame for an outside shot at the Big Dance. Notre Dame has some metrics that favor them, but ultimately FSU is a deeper, more talented team. Take the Seminoles -2.
