When it's Notre Dame men's basketball and Louisville, it's usually something memorable
Tom Noie
SOUTH BEND — Once upon a basketball time, this was one heck of a rivalry.
From the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference, when Notre Dame men’s basketball played Louisville, it was must-see TV. Forty minutes seldom were enough to decide anything. Overtime? There often were multiple.
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When remembering five just won’t do, here are the top six Irish victories over the Cardinals. Really, this list could’ve run 10-12 deep. There were so many games from which to choose. The Irish travel to Louisville Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
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6. Notre Dame 82, Louisville 70 (January 22, 2022)
There have been Irish basketball seasons — and performances — that come from nowhere, that take off with no notice. All you can do is hold on and enjoy the ride, wherever it leads.
The launch for Notre Dame’s magical run in 2021-22 was right around here, part of a streak where the Irish won four straight ACC games and nine of 10. This Saturday afternoon in Yum! Center also was the launching pad for guard Blake Wesley to become the first one-and-done in program history.
Wesley’s game hit another gear in the second half, one that featured a 20-3 Irish run. One where Notre Dame outscored Louisville 44-25 in the final 20 minutes. One where the game featured seven ties and 15 lead changes. Once Wesley went to work, this one was over.
Wesley scored 22 points with one rebound and two assists, but it was the way he took over. Realizing he was the best player on the court, Wesley scored nine straight points in less than two minutes in the second half. Leaving the arena that night, you got the first clue that this season could be special. That Wesley could be special. It would be. So would he.
5. No. 23 Notre Dame 77, No. 9 Louisville 70 (January 4, 2017)
This one was the Steve Vasturia game.
Four nights after the unassuming, assassin-like Irish guard knocked down a corner 3 to give Notre Dame an overtime win in Pittsburgh, he was back doing Steve Vasturia stuff.
He scored a career-high 24 points with six rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes and guard Matt Farrell added 22 points, two rebounds and three assists as Notre Dame led for 37:42 in a game that featured two ties and five lead changes. The Cardinals led for 72 seconds.
Still, the Irish didn’t make this one easy, not even after Bonzie Colson went for 18 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks in 35 minutes. Notre Dame went scoreless for nearly six minutes in the second half. That allowed Donovan Mitchell (20 points, four rebounds, five assists in 39 minutes) and the Cardinals to climb back to within one.
Needing a bucket in the worst way, Notre Dame turned to ... sophomore guard Rex Pflueger. His corner 3 bumped the Irish back up by four with 6:12 remaining while Notre Dame went 15-of-16 from the free throw line in the second half to seal it.
4. No. 8 Notre Dame 89, No. 16 Louisville 79 (OT) (February 9, 2011)
A weird run of overtime affairs continued on a night that saw Notre Dame make some unlikely program history. Remember those seasons that come from nowhere? Those where you just hold on and enjoy the ride?
This one qualified. This win marked the earliest in program history that the Irish won 20 games. It also marked the best start (20-4) under former coach Mike Brey.
This one was sealed thanks to guard Ben Hansbrough, fully on his heater toward Big East player of the year. B-Hans went for 25 points, six rebounds and two assists in 41 minutes. Swingman Tim Abromaitis added 23 points, eight rebounds and two assists in 44 minutes. Abromaitis, Hansbrough, Carleton Scott and Jack Cooley combined for 74 points and 25 rebounds in a game that featured 13 ties and 10 lead changes.
Notre Dame owned overtime and scored the first 14 points. It was the first time Notre Dame had beaten Louisville in overtime and kick-started a run of four straight games and five of six that went to OT.
This one also is remembered for Kyle Kuric nearly jumping over Scott Martin for a one-handed windmill dunk at the end of the first half. YouTube it.
3. Notre Dame 67, No. 11 Louisville 65 (2OT) (January 7, 2012)
Coming off a lackluster 71-55 loss up the Ohio River to Cincinnati three days earlier, Notre Dame looked and felt and seemed overmatched in its first trip to the sparking basketball palace in downtown Louisville.
The Irish seemed to play to that narrative while shooting .317 percent from the field and .192 percent (ugh!) from 3. They also managed a meager 24 points in the first half. All very un-Irish like.
Despite all that, in a game that featured 16 ties and 11 lead changes, Notre Dame kept plugging along, kept playing and figured out a way to steal a game it had no business winning.
How? To start, the Irish guards were good. Eric Atkins scored 15 points with eight assists in all 50 minutes. Jerian Grant added 13 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals. An Atkins 3 tied it at the end of regulation. His free throw with the Irish down one and 3.7 seconds left in the first overtime forced another five minutes. Jack Cooley added 18 points and 10 rebounds while Martin offered a little of everything – 11 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three steals as Notre Dame won in Louisville for the first time since 1958.
2. No. 12 Notre Dame 71, No. 16 Louisville 59 (March 4, 2015)
This one was for Father Ted.
Notre Dame played this mid-week game with heavy hearts following the death of former university president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, whose funeral was held back on campus earlier in the day. That night, a massive storm dumped nearly a foot of snow on Louisville, which kept the Irish charter grounded in the Commonwealth.
Nobody in the Irish traveling party seemed to mind after Notre Dame set the program record with its seventh league road win.
Guard Demetrius Jackson took his talents to a level never seen. He went for 21 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals while Colson bounced off the bench with 17 points and nine rebounds in 26 minutes. Grant added 12 points, seven assists and two steals.
Notre Dame raced to a 42-31 halftime lead, but had no answer for Louisville big man Montrezl Harrell, who finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds. He helped erase that 11-point Irish lead within the first three minutes of the second half.
A game that was free-wheeling and wide open in the first half turned into a slog in the second half, but the Irish embraced that pace and bounced back from a loss to Syracuse. That loss to the ‘Cuse was Notre Dame’s last until a magical NCAA tournament run ended in Cleveland against Kentucky.
1. No. 25 Notre Dame 104, No. 11 Louisville 101 (5 OT) (February 9, 2013)
Even now, 11 seasons later, nothing about this one makes sense.
Not the 16 ties or 26 lead changes. Not the Irish erasing an eight-point deficit with 51 seconds remaining. Not Grant going nuclear with 12 points in 29 seconds. Not Irish power forward Garrick Sherman, sitting and watching for the first 43 minutes, then getting up, getting into the game and going for 17 points and six rebounds, then being interviewed afterward by ESPN.
Not even a game official working a DePaul-Marquette game earlier in the day in Milwaukee, then driving to South Bend for the late start to fill in for a colleague who had travel issues. That official? John Gaffney. Yes, that John Gaffney.
The final stats sheet should hang somewhere in some basketball Hall of Fame. It was priceless. Louisville’s largest lead was eight points; Notre Dame’s was three. The Cardinals outscored the Irish 23-5 in points off turnovers. The Irish finished 33-of-49 from the foul line. Six Irish scored double figures. Cameron Biedscheid played 50 minutes ... in a reserve role.
Atkins had 14 points, five rebounds and two assists in 60 minutes. Pat Connaughton added 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists in 56 minutes. Afterward, all he could do was lay across a row of padded bar stools in the locker room lounge. Nothing hurt. He was just too tired to move.
Everything about this one defied logic. Except the longest regular-season game in Big East history actually happened. The game tipped at 9:03 p.m. and ended at 12:36 a.m. Some media didn’t leave Purcell Pavilion until close to 3.
It was simply the wackiest game in Notre Dame basketball history.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.