Notre Dame stifles high-scoring Florida State in impressive home win
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame won’t have many 20-minute stretches of offense as difficult to watch as the first half against No. 24 Florida State on Thursday night in Purcell Pavilion.
But it will be hard-pressed to improve on the exquisite defensive performance the No. 7 Irish displayed for 40 minutes in a stunning 70-47 victory that head coach Niele Ivey called “a statement win.”
Some context.
The Seminoles are 18-5 and 7-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, led by an offense that came into the game first in the ACC and fifth in the country at 85.8 points a game.
They are led by one of the nation’s best scorers in Ta’Niya Latson, a 5-8 freshman guard from Miami who came in averaging 23.6 points, many of those from the free throw line, and shooting at a 47.4% clip from the field.
Notre Dame (17-2, 8-1 ACC) has typically found a way of limiting a team’s most dangerous scorer, but most impressive Thursday was that the combination of man-to-man and zone was able to clamp down on Latson (9 points on 3-for-11, only three free throws) and prevent her from getting free without leaving big holes elsewhere.
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The Irish were everywhere, starting with high-end pressure on the perimeter, then falling back with timely double-teams in the paint.
FSU had few open looks.
The Seminoles came in shooting 44% from the field and wound up 16-for-59 (27.1%) and just 5-for-25 (20%) from the 3-point line.
“Collectively, our team defense was amazing,” said Ivey, who had her team in a man-to-man to start with 6-1 sophomore guard Sonia Citron chasing Latson.
“Then we went to the zone so our wings were out. Our center was there for the rotation and our guards did a great job of trying to keep (Latson) in front to contain her. So I thought that was really a team effort when we went to the zone.”
That defense gave the Irish the extended time it needed to recover from the ugly start on offense.
The offense wasn’t bad. It was the shooting that was horrible.
The offensive game-plan delivered some decent shots, some unharassed shots, and the Irish just kept missing, most around the basket.
They went 2-for-13 in the first quarter and trailed 12-7.
It got worse in the second quarter – 4-for-27 – before a decent finish led to an 8-for-33 count (24%) for the first half.
The Irish were shut out from the 7:13 mark of the first quarter to the 7:50 mark of the second – 9 minutes and 23 seconds.
And because of Notre Dame’s defense the best FSU could do in that stretch was a 14-0 run to go up nine.
The deficit sat at 10, 22-12, at the four-minute mark of the first half and two minutes later it was tied.
Suddenly there was life from the crowd of 4,956 instead of silence and groans.
“I felt like we had good looks,” Ivey said. “I didn't feel like it was really the offense. We just didn't hit the shots. We didn't get any offensive rebounds (five in first half). We were basically one shot and done. So I kind of focused on that (at halftime), making sure that we did a better job of really crashing the boards.”
Her club clearly got the message.
On the first offensive possession of the second half, Notre Dame missed three shots and got the rebound on each before Lauren Ebo (12 points, 10 rebounds) got the bucket underneath for a 24-23 Irish lead.
They never trailed again and totaled 16 second half offensive rebounds among their rebound total of 55. FSU, which out-rebounds its opponents by five a game, had only 37. There were 23 second-chance points for ND.
“I think we really just played for each other tonight and for Dara (Mabrey),” said starting forward Kylee Watson. “Just coming into that second half we knew that we needed to kind of get our stuff together and we were talking so much, we really had each other's backs. I think that was the biggest reason why we were able to kind of pull away like that.’’
In the first full game without starting guard Mabrey, following her season-ending leg injury against Virginia on Sunday, Ebo was given the start and may stay in that role.
“Yeah, it might depend on matchups, but I just really like our experience there,” Ivey said of replacing one grad student with another in the starting lineup. “I like our size with that lineup. So we're going to continue looking at that.”
Noting Ebo’s double-double, Ivey said, “she has the great presence when we get her the ball, and she finishes very well. She’s one of the best in the country finishing. I feel like (with Ebo) we had six starters the entire season. So I thought that (role) was going to be easy for her.”
With the tone set early in the second half the Irish took off. Citron led the group with 19 points, followed by KK Bransford with 15 – each went 6-for-11 from the field to help the Irish inch its way to a 35% shooting performance for the game.
Bransford entered the game early and played 27 minutes, a season high. Her defense is a plus and she gets to the boards (five rebounds) despite her 5-11 size.
“She's really very mature for a freshman, really understanding what she needs to do on and off the court,” Ivey said. “And she's kind of growing into being able to play longer stretches and with the loss of Dara our guards will have to play longer stretches.”
There will be better days ahead for early enrollee Cass Prosper, who was 0-for-9 from the field and 0-for-4 on 3-point attempts in her 16-plus minutes. Her rebounding (five Thursday) and active hands on defense are still important while she re-locates her shot.
Another challenge comes Sunday at 3 p.m. EST when the Irish visit No. 20 North Carolina State (15-5, 5-4). The Wolfpack are coming off a win over Louisville on Sunday and will have had a week to prepare for the Irish.
“It's going to be really tough,” Ivey said. “We have to have that road mentality. That warrior mentality. I heard it’s already sold out, and you know they're gonna play their best game against us. We have to bring the same second half (effort) that we brought today for 40 minutes down in North Carolina, but I'm excited for the matchup.”
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