Hubb scores 22 as Notre Dame surprises No. 11 Florida State
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — This time, Notre Dame made enough plays to knock off a ranked team.
It had been a while.
Prentiss Hubb scored 22 points, Dane Goodwin had 15 and Notre Dame beat No. 11 Florida State 83-73 on Saturday.
The Seminoles s (15-5, 11-4 squandered a chance for a second straight Atlantic Coast Conference title, losing out on the title when No. 21 Virginia beat Louisville later Saturday to win the regular-season championship.
The Fighting Irish (10-14, 7-11) had five players score in double figures in the program's first win against a ranked team since a 67-66 victory over Wichita State in November 2017. They had dropped 28 such games in a row.
“I thought we had some edge about us to get loose balls and stick our nose in there and take charges, and that helped us,” coach Mike Brey said. “You're not gonna really run anything pretty against an athletic, switching defense, (but) I thought we did a good job the last two days of practice talking about just opening the floor up and cutting more.”
Cormac Ryan, Nikola Djogo and Nate Laszewski had 11 points apiece for Notre Dame, which had dropped four in a row. Juwan Durham had nine points and nine rebounds.
The Fighting Irish went 28 for 34 at the free-throw line, compared to 15 for 20 for the Seminoles.
“I thought Notre Dame did a better job of being extremely aggressive and hitting the open shots and challenging our defensive discipline by making the extra pass,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “Then at the end, they hit their free throws.”
Scottie Barnes led Florida State with 17 points. RaiQuan Gray added 15 points and 10 rebounds. M.J. Walker had 12 points on 4-for-16 shooting.
Notre Dame led by as many as 20 on its way to a 47-31 halftime lead. Florida State closed to 74-70 on Anthony Polite's 3-pointer with 2:34 left. But Laszewski hit four foul shots down the stretch to help the Irish close it out.
NO. 4 ILLINOIS 73, NO. 7 OHIO STATE 68
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ayo Dosunmu returned after missing three games with a concussion and facial injuries to score 19 points, and No. 4 Illinois rallied to beat No. 7 Ohio State 73-68.
Andre Curbelo also had 19 points as Illinois got its second straight road win over a top 10 team after routing No. 2 Michigan on Tuesday. The Illini have won 11 of 12 and enter next week's Big Ten Tournament with a double-bye.
E.J. Liddell led the Buckeyes with 19 points, and Duane Washington Jr. and Justice Sueing each had 15.
Illinois led by 10 during first half but a late put-back by Liddell cut the advantage to 41-37 at the break. The teams traded punches in the second half, but again Ohio State had trouble making shots down the stretch, missing on its last 10 attempts.
BIG PICTURE
Illinois is peaking at the right time and brimming with confidence after beating top 10 teams in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2005 NCAA Tournament. The Illini should move up to No. 3 in the AP poll. The Buckeyes showed an inability to finish in their most rigorous and disastrous stretch of the season.