Forget finishing a game. Notre Dame men’s basketball couldn’t finish baskets Tuesday night in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Irish needed to get out of the Sunshine State in a hurry after a 67-60 loss at Florida State came three days after an embarrassing six-point loss at Miami. The Seminoles ended a four-game ACC losing streak with a win over the Irish after the Hurricanes ended a 10-game conference losing streak Saturday by doing the same.
The offensive woes, particularly in shooting, were widespread for head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s Notre Dame squad. Florida State made only one more shot from the field (24 to 23) than Notre Dame. Yet the Irish (10-12, 4-7 ACC) attempted 14 more field goals than the Seminoles (14-9, 5-7 ACC).
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Notre Dame missed in the paint. The Irish were charged with 15 missed layups on 27 attempts.
Notre Dame missed at the free throw line. The Irish missed more free throws (seven) than they made (six).
Notre Dame missed from the 3-point line, even though its 36.4% shooting from behind the arc was only slightly worse than its 36.5% shooting from the field and not far off from its season-long 3-point percentage (37.9). The Irish missed more 3-pointers (14) than Florida State attempted (13).
“Maybe their length had something to do with it,” Shrewsberry said. “I thought our missed layups, our missed free throws were a big deal in this game.”
Even Notre Dame star Markus Burton, who led all scorers with 25 points, missed 12 of his 22 shots in trying to keep the Irish in the game. Notre Dame desperately needed a jolt from Burton at the end of the first half.
The Irish started well with a 17-7 lead with 12:10 remaining in the half. Then Notre Dame went more than seven minutes without a point. The Seminoles piled up an 18-0 run while Notre Dame missed seven shots and committed five turnovers.
A layup by freshman forward Garrett Sundra ended Notre Dame’s scoring drought with 5:01 remaining in the half, but Florida State recovered with four more points to extend its lead to 10 points.
Burton put together an 8-0 run of his own in 49 seconds with a pair of 3-pointers and a jumper. Sir Mohammed added one free throw with 35 seconds left to cut Notre Dame’s deficit to 29-28 at halftime.
Mohammed, a 6-foot-6 freshman guard, made his first career start. He replaced graduate senior Matt Allocco, who was sidelined with a wrist injury that will be reevaluated when Notre Dame returns to South Bend. Mohammed’s free throw was his only point in the game. He missed all seven of his shots from the field, two of which came from 3, and missed two free throws.
All three of Notre Dame’s scholarship freshmen — guard Cole Certa, Sundra and Mohammed — played as the Irish went 10 deep in the rotation. The 6-11 Sundra gave the best performance of the trio with eight points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals in 12 minutes.
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Florida State looked poised to take control of the game in the second half when guard Jamir Watkins, who finished with a team-high 21 points, gave his team a nine-point lead with three 3-pointers. But Notre Dame responded and took its first lead since 17-15 with a three-point play by Burton with 10:35 remaining. But Notre Dame struggled to string together consecutive baskets after that 46-45 lead. The Irish missed nine consecutive shots, including six layups, over the next five minutes.
Notre Dame was still within three points, 60-57, after a Burton layup with 1:22 left in regulation. Florida State pushed the lead back to six with a three-point play by 6-11 forward Malique Ewin, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Fittingly, the game was all but over when Tae Davis, who was ND’s second-leading scorer with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, missed a layup with 39 seconds left. Ewin made a couple more free throws at the other end to stretch the lead to eight and gave the Irish virtually no chance to recover in FSU's first game after head coach Leonard Hamilton announced he will resign at the end of the season.
Notre Dame couldn’t blame a short turnaround from Saturday’s game for its performance. Florida State played Saturday as well in a 77-76 loss at Boston College. The Seminoles committed 18 turnovers and allowed Notre Dame to grab 16 offensive rebounds, but they shot 49.0% from the field (24-49) and 84.2% from the free throw line (16-19).
“They had to play on the road and then travel back in a close, hard-fought game where guys are playing a bunch of minutes,” Shrewsberry said. “We were at Miami and guys got banged up. It's just a short turnaround to get back and get ready.
“How they play, they make it hard. You gotta exert a lot of energy to play against these guys, and to do it on short rest is tough. To do it on short prep is tough. Both teams really battled.”
Notre Dame will need to bounce back Saturday at home when the Irish host Virginia Tech (10-12, 5-6 ACC) at 1 p.m. EST (CW).
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