Notre Dame basketball: 3 takeaways from the 74-70 loss to Florida State
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame basketball team lost a tough one to Florida State on Wednesday night, falling on the road and into a tie for second place in the ACC.
In their last road game of the regular season, the Notre Dame basketball team went to Tallahassee to take on the Florida State Seminoles. The Irish went into the game on a two-game winning streak and were looking to close out the season with four straight wins heading into the ACC Tournament.
However, despite the Seminoles not having star freshman Matthew Cleveland due to a non-COVID illness, Florida State was still able to come away with the home victory. That could prove to be a big loss for the Irish in terms of their seeding in the NCAA Tournament if they cannot win the ACC Tournament crown.
Notre Dame basketball: 3 takeaways from the 74-70 loss to Florida State
No. 1: Irish done in by the three-pointer
From the start, it was clear that the Seminoles were hot from the outside, something that the Irish have used all season long to rack up over 20 victories. Hot shooting to start the game, and hot shooting to start the second half by the Seminoles proved to be the difference in this one, as they racked up 12 three-pointers in the game.
All told, Florida State shot over 40 percent from three.
No. 2: Atkinson Jr. continues to rise
In the second half of the season, Paul Atkinson Jr. has been the player the program was hoping he would be after coming to Notre Dame from Yale. During his time in the Ivy League, Atkinson was one of the better players in the conference, and recently, he has played like one of the better big men in the ACC.
Against Florida State, Atkinson scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, and now has 47 points across his last three games. He also has 33 rebounds in that stretch.
No. 3: Loss could help them entering the tournament
A loss is a loss, and for the Irish, they were hoping to close the season on a winning streak, building momentum heading into the ACC Tournament. Now, they have to put this loss in the rearview mirror, their second road loss in a row and get prepared to finish out the regular-season slate at home against Pitt.
Overall, the Irish were the favorite in this game, and you never want to lose to a lesser team this late in the season. However, we have seen teams go into the tournament red-hot and get knocked off early, so maybe this was the kind of wake-up call they needed heading into the ACC Tournament and March Madness.