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ACC Basketball: Florida State vs. Notre Dame game preview, prediction, TV schedule

By Taylor Sturm

Dec 28, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey walks to the locker room at the end of the first half against the Saint Peter's Peacocks at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 28, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey walks to the locker room at the end of the first half against the Saint Peter's Peacocks at the Purcell Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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The ACC basketball conference is neck and neck with eight teams just two games or less from the top of the conference standings.

TV Schedule: Saturday, Feb. 11, 6:00 p.m. ET, ESPN

Arena: Purcell Pavilion

Prediction: Notre Dame 86, Florida State 80

The Florida State Seminoles sit tied for first place in the ACC regular season standings with the North Carolina Tar Heels and must avoid slip-ups to maintain a bye in the ACC Tournament. The Seminoles are an extremely difficult team to figure out. They were supposed to be better than they were last season, but have seemingly carried over those expectations into success this season.

Related Story: Inside the numbers for Duke-North Carolina

Their ACC losses have all come on the road to solid teams, but they have all been by double digits — something that should be extremely concerning for FSU fans moving forward.

Notre Dame, on the other hand, is in the midst of a horrible streak in which they have lost five of their last seven games. While it should be noted that these losses all came on the road to ranked opposition, this is the worst time of the season to have this type of losing streak. Even worse news for the Fighting Irish, however, is that this streak was started by a loss to Florida State.

Next: UNC overpowered by Duke's 'Big Three'

The good news for Notre Dame, however, is that Florida State is a far different team on the road than they are at home. The Seminoles were able to scrape out an 83-80 win over the Fighting Irish at home, and I’m not sure they can get a win in South Bend — even with Notre Dame currently in the midst of a downswing. Both teams will make the tournament, but Notre Dame gets the home victory in this one.