If anyone thought Notre Dame’s remaining opponents would just let it have the second seed in the ACC Tournament, they were wrong. Even with Florida State decimated by injuries to its top players, it had every intention of making a statement when the Irish came to Tallahassee. That’s exactly what happened in a 74-70 Seminoles win. Consequently, Duke has won the outright ACC regular-season championship.
The Irish (21-9, 14-5) bounced back from the Seminoles (16-13, 9-10) making their first five 3-point attempts to take a five-point halftime lead. The second half saw the Irish lose that lead early and never get it back despite plenty of chances to do so. They both missed shots and coughed up loose balls at inopportune times. Perhaps most damning of all, they missed all 10 shots from 3-point range in the second half while the Seminoles equaled the six 3s they made in the first half.
John Butler, who could make the jump to the NBA in the distant future, was the man for the Seminoles. He led them with 16 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Three of his four 3-pointers came during the Seminoles’ shooting barrage out of the gate. Helping him out were fellow starters Anthony Polite, RayQuan Evans and Tanor Ngom, all of whom scored 12 points.
Blake Wesley scored two of his game-high 21 points on a thunderous first-half dunk, which proved to be the highlight for the Irish in this one. Paul Atkinson Jr. achieved a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Prentiss Hubb had a 10-point, seven-board game, but he shot only 4 of 12 from the field, including 1 of 6 from beyond the arc.
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