No. 3 Notre Dame suffered a second consecutive loss on Thursday as it fell at home to No. 24 Florida State, 86-81. This is the first time the Fighting Irish have lost back-to-back ACC games since 2021.
The Irish won their first 15 conference games before falling in double overtime to No. 9 NC State on Sunday. And because of these two losses, Notre Dame’s chances to win the ACC regular season title have taken a massive hit.
Both Notre Dame and NC State have 15-2 records in conference play, but the Wolfpack hold the tiebreaker over the Irish because of their head-to-head win and can now clinch the conference’s regular season crown with a win over SMU this weekend. Meanwhile, Notre Dame will have to take care of business at home vs. No. 25 Louisville while hoping the Mustangs can play spoiler for NC State. A third consecutive Notre Dame loss would also clinch the ACC for NC State.
Florida State overcomes 15-point deficit
For this situation to play out, a significant comeback from Florida State was necessary. After the loss to the Wolfpack, Notre Dame started strong against FSU. The Irish jumped out to a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter and pushed the advantage to 15 early in the second. That turned out to be the high point of their evening.
The Seminoles responded with a 19-3 run to take the lead, and save for a 10-second period in the middle of the third quarter, never trailed again.
This game was not without drama, though. After the Seminoles built a double-digit lead heading into the fourth, the Irish opened the final frame on a 9-0 run to get within one. Some teams may have folded on the road at that point, but Seminoles star Ta’Niya Latson would not let that happen.
Latson, who is leading the country in scoring at 26.2 points per game, got off to a brutal start on Thursday, but came up clutch down the stretch. She scored 13 of the final 15 points for the Seminoles by slicing to the basket time and again against the Fighting Irish’s helpless defenders, and finished with 23 points, five rebounds and nine assists.
In the victory, Latson became the second Florida State player to score 2,000 career points and became the third player in ACC history to reach the 2,000-point mark in just three seasons.
The Seminoles also got 22 points and 17 rebounds from Makayla Timpson, who powered their first-half comeback and kept the team afloat until Latson’s late-game takeover.
A disastrous result for Notre Dame
For Notre Dame, this could be a disastrous defeat on a number of levels. In addition to the ACC championship implications, Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament seeding is at stake.
Notre Dame was ranked No. 4 in the latest NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee top-16 ranking, which was released on Thursday. That means that prior to tip off, they were penciled in as the final No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
That won’t be the case after this loss.
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