
Can the Irish take care of business in their final road test of the season?
Notre Dame travels down to play the Florida State Seminoles tonight at 7:00 pm ET in Donald L. Tucker Civic Center on ESPN2. The Irish are looking to close out their last two games before postseason play with a win today and Saturday. With the double-bye secured for the ACC Tournament, they can still solidify the #2 seed, and build their resume for the NCAA tournament. They are a two-point favorite on the road tonight.
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The Irish are coming off a blowout win at home against Georgia Tech (I missed my prediction Saturday due to a pet emergency but I’m glad I did because I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere close to that score). The hope is that we see the Irish close out these last two games in a similar fashion. If they can do that I feel it will be huge for them heading into the ACC tournament. It will show a big bounce back after the loss to Wake Forest (and even the close win to Boston College).
I also think it will be valuable to get some bench minutes before heading into post-season play. Brey has shown all year he will ride with the small rotation he has, but when you’re playing multiple days in a row it’s good to have an extra option or two in case of injury, fatigue, or foul trouble during a game.
My hopes aren’t high we will see a change for the post-season but I don’t think it would hurt to try and get some late minutes in these last two games.
Florida State on the other hand is not going to lay down. They just came off of an insane buzzer-beating win over Virginia.
INCREDIBLE SHOT BY @MCleveland35 @FSUHoops | #ACCMBB
— ACC Men’s Basketball (@accmbb) February 26, 2022
They had lost 8 of 9 going into that game so dealing a huge blow to the Cavaliers tournament hopes I would say probably gave them some juice. While it looks like Notre Dame is in, they cannot afford any losses these last two games. Florida State knows that and can hang their hats on being able to dash postseason hopes these last few games, and in tournament play.
The Irish offense has started to come along these last five games. I believe they will continue that improvement today (and Saturday for that matter). Florida State offensively has tended not to show up at times, while allowing superior offensive teams to run away. I think Notre Dame knows what is at stake and will be looking to take care of business.
PREDICTION
Notre Dame 79, Florida State 64