3 Takeaways as FSU Basketball Beats Notre Dame in Nailbiter

Florida State Basketball entered this weekend having won two straight ACC games for the first time in the Luke Loucks era. To match their longest winning streak of the season, they'd have to go on the road to beat a lackluster Notre Dame team playing without its best player, Markus Burton.

It looked VERY promising early. Florida State hit five threes in the first four minutes, and eight minutes into the game, the Seminoles were up a whopping 22-5. They were generating open shots on offense, playing stifling defense, and shutting down possessions before they could get started. This looked well on its way to a blowout.

The officials kept the game from getting too far out of hand, though. Some ticky-tacky fouls led to generous free throws for the Fighting Irish, and that helped them chip away at the lead, as did some threes from Cole Certa and Braeden Shrewsberry. Another three from Sir Mohammed cut the lead to six just before half, but FSU would go into halftime up 41-32.

Every time the officials or Notre Dame tried to cut into the lead at the start of the half, Florida State seemed to have an answer. Robert McCray hit a tough stepback three to combat Jalen Haralson scoring five points out of the break. Chauncey Wiggins continued his hot stretch of basketball with a pick-and-pop three and a tough and-one around the basket.

But the rest of the half was absolute bonkers. Florida State still led for nearly the entire second half. But they did not make it easy.

For the most part, every time Notre Dame had a surge, Florida State had an answer. Robert McCray V hit a few tough threes in this second half. But Cole Certa was responding at an even higher rate for Notre Dame, hitting three straight threes in the middle portion of the half to cut into the lead.

The Fighting Irish took their first lead of the game with about two minutes left on a three-pointer from Logan Imes, a play that also fouled out Robert McCray V, which left FSU in a scary place. He's been their primary source of downhill creation all season. But Chauncey Wiggins came out of that and hit a three, and Lajae Jones responded with free throws to give the 'Noles a four-point lead again.

But the last 30 seconds of the game felt like a lifetime. Timeouts, both teams playing the foul game, missed free throws all over the place, everything. Florida State realized they should be putting their center, Carson Towt, on the free-throw line as much as possible. That paid off, because he went 0/4 from the free-throw line in the final 40 seconds.

However, Lajae Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Chauncey Wiggins went 0/2 at the line in that same stretch. You want to know who came up clutch? Alier Maluk. Of all people, Maluk, who didn't even play enough in this game to register a minute and was completely cold, hit two clutch free throws with 9 seconds to go to put FSU up by three. Notre Dame would miss two good looks on the next sequence, and Florida State would hang on for their third straight win, 82-79.

The end of the game was absolutely bonkers. There are no other ways to describe it. Florida State will host Virginia on Tuesday. Here are three takeaways from this win.

FINAL: Florida State hangs on and beats Notre Dame 82-79 on the road

No words to describe the end of that game lol but it's a third straight win

C Wiggins 22 pts
R McCray 15 pts
L Jones 11 pts

NEXT: vs Virginia Tuesday #Noles pic.twitter.com/I0b8CL6ckj
— Austin Veazey (@EasyVeazeyNG) February 7, 2026

1. Being Able to Close Without Robert McCray...

When Robert McCray fouled out (on an iffy call) with about two minutes left to go, I thought that was going to be it for Florida State. He's really their only reliable on-ball creator, as he can get downhill and finish with either hand. To be able to find a way to win this game with him on the bench is going to do a lot for the confidence of the team. But they also don't need to do this every time.

2. FREE. THROWS. THEY'RE FREE.

As a percentage, Florida State shot well from the free-throw line, shooting 17/22. But man, is their situational shooting poor. They had so many chances to put this game away at the line, and with how well they shot from three (15/37), the free throws should've been falling too. This was actually their second-best free-throw shooting game of ACC play, but it sure didn't feel like it.

3. Take Wins As You Can Get Them

It's often hard to have patience in sports. You want to see results immediately and quick turnarounds, because they do happen occasionally. That was never going to be the case for Florida State. This was going to be a slow burn, and they're finding ways to win. That's a lot different than a few weeks ago, when they did just about everything they could do to lose against Syracuse, NC State, and Wake Forest. It's a three-game ACC winning streak. Do you want to know how many teams in the ACC are on three-game winning streaks? 7: Duke, Clemson, Virginia, NC State, UNC, Louisville, and Florida State. Take the wins as you get them.

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