Notre Dame and Florida State are experiencing rough stretches.
Both the Irish and Seminoles will look to change directions Tuesday night when they meet in an Atlantic Coast Conference game in South Bend, Ind.
Florida State (5-13, 3-4 ACC) has lost two straight games and three of its past four, and Notre Dame (9-9, 1-6) has lost four of five.
On Saturday, in their most recent games, Notre Dame squandered a 12-point, second-half lead and fell to Syracuse 78-73, while Florida State was defeated by then-No. 13 Virginia 67-58.
As has been the case most of the season, Notre Dame’s defense wavered at an inopportune time. The Fighting Irish, who are tied for next-to-last in the 15-team ACC, allowed Syracuse to score on its last eight possessions during a game-ending 16-5 run.
“An area that hurts us is when we really have to defend to win a game, and stick our chest in there, at least on the road, we haven’t been able to do that,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said after the Fighting Irish fell to 0-6 in road or neutral-site games.
Near-misses generally haven’t been an issue for Florida State, which has absorbed just two losses by less than nine points this season. Three of the Seminoles’ last four losses have been by at least 14 points, with two of those coming in conference play.
Florida State continued struggling on both ends of the floor Saturday, as Virginia shot 50 percent (11 of 22) from 3-point range while limiting the Seminoles to 26.3 percent (5 of 19).
Cameron Corhen led FSU with 15 points, Caleb Mills added 14 and Matthew Cleveland chipped in 10 to go along with 10 rebounds, but their efforts weren’t enough to help the Seminoles get out of their rut.
“I was surprised that the margin of our loss was nine points,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “We did not play with that sense of urgency.”
–Field Level Media