Niele Ivey issues apology to Notre Dame fans after Florida State loss

No. 3 Notre Dame suffered its second-straight loss when the Irish failed to overcome No. 24 Florida State 86-81 at home on Thursday night.

While the first game of the skid came on the road against NC State, the loss to the Seminoles struck a different chord for Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey. The loss ended the Irish’s 13-game winning streak at home, which caused Ivey to address the fans who came to see the Irish in person after the game.

“My apologies to the fans,” Ivey said, beginning the postgame press conference. “I thought the fans were as they’ve always been, extremely supportive. I’m grateful for them being out here. A senior night, it’s hard having a game like this. I always feel like senior nights are supposed to be an opportunity to honor our seniors. I talked about that right when I walked into the locker room.

“… I’m Just grateful for the fans to come out. Was a very disappointing performance. We got to get back to work. We’re fortunate we have another opportunity Sunday to have Louisville at home.”

Ivey was particularly frustrated with her team’s defensive performance during the game. Despite the five-point difference in the final score, Florida State would lead by as many as 12 points during the contest. However, that was after the Irish led by as many as 15 points in the first half.

Ultimately, the Seminoles outscored Notre Dame 30-17 in the second quarter and outscored them by another six points in the third. They would trail Florida State by 10 points entering the second quarter.

“I didn’t think that we were locked in for four quarters,” Ivey said. “I thought Florida State did a really great job of their guards getting downhill. I thought Timpson was really good from the inside presence. We didn’t show our grit defensively. That’s an area, as their coach, I have to fix that. I have to get better. I have to fix that for this team.”

Notre Dame has now lost its last two matchups after previously being ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll. They have one more game left on their regular season schedule on Sunday, March 2 against No. 25 Louisville at home. This serves as a must-win matchup for the Fighting Irish, who no longer control their destiny when it comes to the regular season ACC championship.

Tip-off is scheduled for Noon ET and will air live on ESPN.