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Notre Dame
Florida State Travels To Play At Notre Dame Saturday
2/6/2026 9:04:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NOTRE DAME, IN – Defense and rebounds.
It's what Florida State head coach Luke Loucks and his staff have preached recently, and the results have been very positive.
Florida State enters Saturday's game at Notre Dame at the Purcell Pavilion having won two consecutive and three of its last four games. On Saturday against the Fighting Irish, they'll play against a team they have defeated in five consecutive games and in two straight games on the road.
The Seminoles game against the Fighting Irish will tip at 4:05 p.m. and be televised on The CW Network with Rick Allen and Georgia Tech All-American Brian Oliver on the call.
Jeff Culhane and former Seminole Blake Miles will have the call live on the Seminole Sports Network and on Facebook Live on the Florida State Men's Basketball Facebook page. Check out their Courtside Cam Broadcast on the FSU MBB Facebook and X pages, the Seminoles YouTube Channel, and on the Seminoles Unconquered app.
In their three ACC victories over Miami (65-63), Cal (63-61), and most recently Stanford, the Seminoles have limited their opponents to an average of 68 points (11.6 points below Florida State's defensive average for the season) and to a combined .420 field goal shooting percentage.
In each of their victories over the Hurricanes, Golden Bears, and the Cardinal, the Seminoles have led for at least 18 minutes of each game (18:22 against Miami; 31:04 against Cal; 28:47 against Stanford) and led by at least six points in each game (six against Miami, 15 against Cal, and their ACC season-high of 19 against Stanford).
The two things that won the game for us against Cal were guys like Lajae Jones stepping up and grabbing big-time rebounds and getting stops on defense down the stretch, said Loucks following the Seminoles' victory over Cal.
The Seminoles held the Bears to one field goal in the final 4:14 of the game and held them scoreless over the final 2:27 of the game.
During that final stretch of just over four minutes of play, Florida State outrebounded the Bears, 8-5.
In their first win over Cal as members of the ACC, Florida State outrebounded the Bears for the game by a 42-41 margin.
Of Florida State's 42 rebounds during the game, its final rebound – an offensive rebound – by Jones was its most important rebound of the game. With the Seminoles holding a slim 62-61 advantage, Jones rebounded a Kobe MaGee missed 3-point field goal attempt with 10 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
Jones was fouled on the play and made one of two free throws to extend the Seminoles' lead to the final score of 63-61.
The way we finished the game against Cal was a good message and a good reminder to our guys that there are two sides of the basketball, said Loucks. You have to get stops and rebound the ball regardless of what's going on.
Just a week before its ACC victory over Cal, the Seminoles held Miami to 61 points in their victory over the Hurricanes. The 61 points scored by Miami on its home court was nearly 24 points fewer than they average for the season, as they rank third in the ACC in scoring offense at 84.7 points scored per game.
Defensively, the Seminoles held the Hurricanes to .421 shooting from the field (including .286 in the second half) and to their lowest offensive scoring output of the season (including only 26 points in the second half).
Going into the season, we thought we were going to be a high-scoring offensive team that made a lot of threes and got up and down, said Loucks after the Seminoles 15th win in the last 16 games against Miami. We just won a game by a 65-63 score, and it was a complete defensive performance.
The Seminoles totaled 12 steals and seven blocked shots and generated more points off turnovers than Miami in earning their first ACC win of the season.
Hopefully we can play the type of defense and rebound how we need to in order to win games moving forward, said Loucks.
One of the biggest adjustments Loucks and his Seminole team has made is getting to the free-throw line and cutting down on the number of fouls committed, thus sending their opponent to the free-throw line fewer times during a game.
Florida State made 23 of 29 free throws and shot .793 from the free throw line in its victory over Stanford. It marked the fifth time this season the Seminoles had made 20 or more free throws, with 20 made free throws coming against NC State and 23 in their victory over Stanford.
In ACC play, the Seminoles have made 131 free throws (14.6 FTM/Game) as compared to their opponents' 118 free throws made (13.1 FTM/Game).
During Florida State's last four games (3-1 record), the Seminoles have cut their fouls average to 15.5 per game and their points allowed from the free throw line to 11.3 points per game. In their first five ACC games, the Seminoles averaged 17.8 fouls per game while allowing 14.6 points per game from the free-throw line.
Against Stanford, the Seminoles were whistled for their ACC season-low 12 fouls and sent the Cardinal to the line only nine times, where they totaled only six points.
To me, it all goes back to how are we defending? How are we rebounding? And are we playing with a sense of urgency?, said Loucks.
Now we work on our rebounding every day, we work on our transition defense every day, we work on our shell defense every day, said Loucks. We've concentrated on those things, and our defense has improved. We've also thought less about our offense, and to me, our guys are playing more freely on offense.
You can still win games when you are not making shots, and that is what we have seen in the last few weeks.
