Notre Dame Fighting Irish

No. 16 Florida State, No. 22 Notre Dame clash in ACC (Mar 10, 2017)

Published Mar. 10, 2017 1:29 a.m. ET

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AP

NEW YORK -- After both teams slipped by the two teams from the Commonwealth of Virginia during Thursday night's quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, No. 16 Florida State battles No. 22 Notre Dame in Friday's semifinals.

The winner faces No. 14 Duke or No. 6 North Carolina, who will make it 20 straight years that one of those teams from Tobacco Road played in the tournament final.

The Fighting Irish look to make their second trip in three years to the final while Florida State plays in its fourth ACC semifinal since joining the conference.

"This time of year, we all are who we are,'' Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said after his team's quarterfinal victory over Virginia Tech. "We'll make the necessary adjustments, in-game adjustments, but we're not going to change very much, so we're very familiar with them, they're very familiar with us.

"We split the season with Notre Dame. We've just got to go be who we are this time of year, and hopefully that's enough for us to move on to the next round."

After losing by three points to Florida State in January in Tallahassee, Notre Dame rebounded and knocked off the Seminoles by 12 points last month.

Both games saw the winning team score more than 80 points, but the Seminoles are coming in with more of a defensive mindset.

"Well, we work on it quite a bit. Tonight it was working,'' Hamilton said of his team's defense against the Hokies. "I'm not a zone guy, but we found out that the caliber of teams that exist in the ACC, you can't always go all man-to-man with these guys because every team is loaded with players that can make you pay.

"So sometimes it's making a little bit of adjustment or creating enough indecision for another team just to give you a chance to get it going on the offensive end, and that's what happened tonight."

The Fighting Irish shot better than 50 percent against Virginia's vaunted defense and look to continue that trend against a Florida State team they've had success against offensively.

"Hopefully. It should be two great games of basketball tomorrow night," Notre Dame forward V.J. Beachem said. "We're really excited about the opportunity we have. We were in the same position last year and didn't deliver. So being here again is good for us."

Beachem scored 12 points against the Cavaliers and looks to stretch the Seminoles' defense with his athleticism.

Notre Dame forward Bonzie Colson will be a unique matchup for Florida State's many pieces in their frontcourt. Colson scored 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds Thursday night.

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