As if there wasn't enough excitement at the University of Notre Dame this week with ESPN's College Gameday coming to South Bend on Saturday, the Cardinals and Irish figured they would give the sellout crowd (9.149) at The Joyce Center at Purcell Pavilion their money's worth and much more! #11 Louisville and #25 Notre Dame put together quite the battle. Tying the game 16 times and their were 26 lead changes, it was the Irish in the 5th overtime who were able to outlast the Cardinals with a 104-101 win.
Notre Dame and Louisville have a pretty good history of taking their games to overtime when they meet up. Five of the last six and 8 of the last 13 in this series have been taken to extra periods.
It was a slow-go in the first few minutes, suprisingly, with the two Big East stalwarts combining for just 3-of-12 from the floor and Louisville with a slight 4-2 edge just four and a half minutes in.
Notre Dame held just a 27-24 halftime lead. It looked all too obvious that this would be a defensive basketball game that would end up a low scoring affair, despite the hyped up atmosphere.
Down 56-48 when Tom Knight committed his 5th personal foul, it was hard telling what would happen next. Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant took things into his own hands. In the final 0:45 of regulation, Grant drilled three 3-pointers and with 16 seconds left, made a layup and converted the free throw to finish off a 12-4 run, knotting the score at 60-60.
Louisville had the slight edge in the second half, outscoring the Irish 36-33, tying the game at 60-60 after two halves of play.
Playing five overtimes almost makes one forget what happened in the 40 minutes of regulation.
Jack Cooley's double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds seems like it was an after thought, considering that he fouled with 6:54 left in regulation. The Irish's other big presence down low, Tom Knight, fouled out with 0:51 seconds left in the second half. That meant they'd be left with limited depth heading into the overtime.
This was the kind of game where Notre Dame realized what kind of depth they could and should have every game. We should start seeing more minutes off the bench from freshman Zach Auguste and senior Garrick Sherman and the season continues on. Auguste saw 36 minutes of action and had 8 points and 3 rebounds before fouling out with 12 seconds left in the 5th OT. Sherman showed up like no one thought that he would. In 22 minutes, Garrick scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed 6 rebounds. The most mind-boggling thing about Sherman's performance is that he saw no action in regulation and turned out to be such a sparkplug for the Irish during the five overtimes.
Cooley and Knight have fouled out. Who's up next off the Irish bench? Why not bring in 6'11 big man Garrick Sherman. Sherman transferred from Michigan State before last season. Starting 29 of his 71 games for the Spartans, he brings leadership.
He didn't come into the contest until 1:57 left in the first overtime, staying on the bench in anticipation for the first three minutes. From then on, he was dialed in right away and didn't stop. Sherman was forced to come off the ND bench with Jerian Grant getting charged with his 5th foul.
After the first OT, it was 68-68. The second OT, 75-75. Through three OTs, 83-83. Following OT #4, it was 93-93. The scores were 8-8 in each of the first three overtimes and 10-10 in the fourth. It just seemed obvious that one of these two would find their way to pull away slightly in the fifth overtime.
The #25 Irish outlasted the #11 Cardinals 11-8 in the fifth overtime in an exhausting game, 104-101. It was the longest regular season game in Big East regular season history. Previously, Notre Dame defeated Georgetown in four OT's 11 years ago, also coming up victorious.
#11 Louisville (19-5, 7-4 Big East) was able to get three players scoring 21-plus points. Chris Behanan led all scorers with a game-high 30 points, shooting 13-of-20 and also grabbed 15 rebounds. Luke Hancock 22 points off the bench. Russ Smith had 21 points and 10 boards. Gorgui Dieng also had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Highly touted guard Peyton Siva was limited to 2 points by the Irish defense, fouling out in the fifth overtime.
#25 Notre Dame (19-5, 7-4 Big East) was led in scoring by Jerian Grant's team-high 19, including 12 in the final 45 tics of regulation to send the game to overtime. Right behind him was Garrick Sherman, who notched 17 points in just 22 minutes of action, only playing in the five overtime periods. Pat Connaughton had an outstanding night with 16 points, 14 rebounds and also dished out 7 assists. Eric Atkins played 60 minutes, scoring 14 points. Cameron Biescheid played 50 minutes off the ND bench, putting up 14 on 4-8 field goals and 4-4 at the free throw line. Jack Cooley did it quietly, but had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Zach Auguste gave Mike Brey 36 great minutes off the Irish bench, scoring 8 before fouling out with 12 seconds left in the OT #5.
ND shot 42% overall (32-77) and 7-25 from three. Only shooting decent from the charity stripe, the Irish were 33-49 (67%). Louisville was 33-81 (41%) from the floor and 5-25 from the three-point arc, while going 30-48 (63%) from the free throw line. The two tied at 54-54 in rebounds. ND turned the ball over 18 times to 14 for U of L.
#25 Notre Dame stays home on Wednesday, February 13 for a 7 p.m. tipoff against the DePaul Blue Demons (10-13, 1-9 Big East). #11 Louisville also gets to play at home, but on Thursday, February 14, as the St. John's Red Storm (15-9, 7-5 Big East) visits the Cardinals.
It was an unbelievable game for the ages that we'll be talking about for years to come. Only time will tell, but it's just a precursor to what we're going to see down the stretch of the season and on into March, where it all comes down to March Madness!
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