Notre Dame and Florida State each hit low points in their respective seasons this past weekend.
When the teams clash on Tuesday night in Tallahassee, Fla., it will be the Seminoles’ first game since longtime coach Leonard Hamilton announced that he will resign at season’s end.
Hamilton, 76, is in his 23rd season at Florida State and 37th overall as a college head coach. He has guided Florida State to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament on four occasions, even making an Elite Eight run in 2018.
Times aren’t nearly as rosy now. Florida State (13-9, 4-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) continued to spiral following a positive start to the season and lost its fourth game in a row on Saturday at Boston College.
The Seminoles led by as many as 15 points and by eight with less than a minute remaining before letting the advantage slip away. The Eagles scored eight points in the final 15 seconds to secure a 77-76 win and snap their six-game losing streak.
Hamilton had already called for a response from his team following losses to Cal, Stanford and Virginia Tech but clearly did not get the result he had hoped for.
“We definitely need a mind shift,” Hamilton said. “We give these guys the same information we’ve been giving guys for a long, long time. We’re not getting the same response.”
The Fighting Irish (10-11, 4-6) failed to close out a potential victory against Miami on Saturday night and ended up being the first conference foe to lose to the Hurricanes this season.
Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry may have warned his team not to take Miami lightly before the game, telling reporters, “This is a team that’s completely dangerous.”
Notre Dame led 53-48 before the Hurricanes put together a 9-0 run. The Irish never led again.
It was a disappointing start to a two-game stretch for Notre Dame in the state of Florida, which many looked at as an opportunity to move above .500 in conference play and perhaps set up a late-season push.
Markus Burton, who is averaging 20.1 points per game this season, remains at the heart of Notre Dame’s offense as the Irish try to quickly turn things around and salvage a victory against the Seminoles. He returned from a knee injury in January.
–Field Level Media
