Louisville Hands Irish Third Straight ACC Loss In Double-Overtime Thriller
Notre Dame (13-6, 3-3 ACC) fell for the third straight time in ACC play Tuesday night, losing to Louisville (14-4, 4-1 ACC) 82-78 in double overtime.
Senior point guard Matt Farrell returned to the lineup, scored 23 points and had chances to win the game in both regulation and the first overtime period, but couldn’t connect.
Here is a period-by-period recap of the Irish loss. The full box score can be FOUND HERE.
FIRST HALF
It took two minutes of game action for a basket to be made, but Notre Dame freshman wing D.J. Harvey got the scoring rolling with a three-pointer.
The Cardinals answered on the other end with a pair of free throws from freshman forward Malik Williams, which started a 7-0 run for Louisville over the next two-plus minutes. Interim coach David Padgett’s team also got a jumper by junior wing Deng Adel and a three-pointer via senior guard Quentin Snider.
During the first 4:32 of the game, Notre Dame shot just 1 of 5 (20.0 percent) from the field while Louisville was 2 of 6 (33.3 percent).
After the first media timeout, Farrell made his presence felt over the next few minutes. He got a layup to stop the Louisville run before a tip-in by forward Ray Spalding extended the Cardinals’ lead to 9-5 with 14:46 left in the half.
On the next possession, Farrell found a cutting Martinas Geben for a dunk which began a 6-0 run by the Irish. Farrell then forced a turnover and converted the opportunity into a layup to tie the game at nine apiece. The teams traded baskets to keep the game square at 11 heading into the under-12 media timeout.
Farrell knocked down back-to-back triples to ignite the Irish faithful inside Purcell Pavilion and put his team up 17-11. The team traded baskets to keep the Notre Dame lead at 23-16 heading into the under-8 media timeout (7:17).
During that stretch, Harvey went down with an apparent knee injury and had to be helped off the court. Head coach Mike Brey said following the game an MRI would be conducted Wednesday morning.
Notre Dame pushed the lead to 10 with an and-one conversion by Farrell. The bucket by Farrell put the Irish up 26-16 with 7:07 left and gave the senior 15 points.
Louisville converted their own and-one via Spalding exactly two minutes later. After Farrell’s basket, the Irish went scoreless for 3:32 leading into the under-4 media timeout at the 3:35 mark, but still led 26-19. Spalding’s tip-in was the lone field goal for Louisville from the 9:26 mark through the media timeout.
Notre Dame continued to struggle after the break, getting just one basket over the final 3:32 via a dunk from sophomore forward John Mooney on a missed shot from sophomore guard T.J. Gibbs.
The offensive slump by the Irish allowed Louisville to finish the half on a 14-2 run to take a 30-28 lead into halftime. Notre Dame made just one basket in its last 12 attempts from the field.
Farrell led all scorers with 15 points in his return to action, while Geben added six points and seven rebounds to supply the scoring for the Irish. The Irish just shot 12 of 31 (38.7 percent) from the field and 3 of 14 (21.4 percent) behind the arc.
Snider, Spalding and Adel each had seven points for the Cardinals. Louisville shot 41.1 percent (12 of 29) in the half, but just 27.3 percent (3 of 11) from three-point range.
Notre Dame had 10 first-half turnovers, while forcing eight.
SECOND HALF
Louisville reeled off a 5-0 run in the opening 2:06 to extend its lead to 35-28. Notre Dame then found a rhythm offensively, hitting five straight shots to tie the game at 41 apiece at the under-16 media timeout (14:41).
Farrell, Mooney and junior guard Rex Pflueger each hit a three-pointer while Gibbs and Geben added their own buckets to fuel the run. Spalding scored eight straight points for Louisville to keep his team from surrendering the lead.
An offensive funk found both teams between the under-16 and under-12 media timeouts with a pair of free throws from sophomore guard Nik Djogo being the only points scored from 14:41 to 11:58 to put Notre Dame up 43-41.
Louisville scored six straight points via the charity stripe to regain control 47-43 at the 11-minute mark. Geben connected on a layup to stop the run, by sharpshooting Louisville guard Ryan McMahon hit a three-pointer to quiet the Irish crowd.
Gibbs then proceeded to score eight straight points for Notre Dame, including a pair of three-pointers to give the Irish a 53-52 lead with 7:40 remaining.
Neither team could create separation over the next four-plus minutes, with Louisville getting six points from Snider and a tip-in from Anas Mahmoud. Notre Dame countered with a pair of free throws from Farrell, a three-pointer from Mooney and dunk by Djogo, but lost Pflueger in the process due to fouls. The game was tied 60-60 with 3:25 remaining.
Louisville took the lead via a Snider jumper with 1:15 left. Geben was able to draw a foul on the other end and nailed both free throws to tie the game with 48.6 seconds left.
Djogo forced a steal on the ensuing possession, but was unable to finish at the rim. After a wild scrum for the rebound, the Irish wound up with the ball with a chance to win it.
Farrell drove to the basket, but was blocked by Mahmoud with three seconds remaining. The Irish found Farrell again on the in-bounds pass, but his three-pointer was no good and the teams headed to overtime tied at 62.
OVERTIME
Louisville started overtime much like the second half, drilling a three-pointer with this one coming from McMahon. The Cardinals defense held strong and then got a jumper from Adel to take a quick 67-62 lead in the opening minute.
A layup from Geben cut the Cardinals lead to 67-64 with 3:16 left. Notre Dame then found a wide open Djogo in the corner and the Canadian product drilled a huge three-pointer to tie the game at 67. Louisville quickly responded to regain control 69-67 with two minutes left.
After a missed basket by Farrell, Geben corralled the offensive board and got a layup to fall to again tie the game at 69. The Irish faithful exploded the next offensive possession when Farrell found Geben for a huge dunk and a 71-69 Notre Dame lead. Louisville again responded with 30.2 seconds left, hitting a jumper.
An airball by Farrell on a three-pointer with the clock winding down gave Louisville a chance to win it with 2.2 seconds left. However, the Cardinals couldn’t connect on the half-court heave sending the game into a second overtime tied at 71.
DOUBLE OVERTIME
Louisville again got two baskets to begin the overtime period, taking a 75-71 lead. Geben scored his 20th point via an alley-oop from Farrell to stop the run, but Louisville knocked down a three-pointer to quiet the Irish crowd and push their lead to 78-73.
Geben continued his strong offensive performance by drilling a jumper to make it a one possession game at 78-75 with 2:34 left. Louisville again found a way to answer, getting another jumper from Spalding to push the lead to five points with 2:17 left.
A minute later Farrell found a way to connect on a three-pointer to make it a one possession game with just 1:14 left, but that was as close as the Irish would get the rest of the contest.
Notre Dame missed its next three field goal attempts before having to foul Snider. The senior calmly hit both free throw attempts to put the game out of reach at 82-78 with just six seconds left. A three-point attempt by Gibbs was no good.
Louisville made 8 of 11 (72.7 percent) shots during the overtime periods, while Notre Dame went 7 of 17 (41.2 percent) from the field and just 2 of 9 (22.2 percent) from three-point range.
In his first game back, Farrell tied for the game high in points with 23 while dishing out eight assists. Geben put up a career-high 22 points and 17 rebounds, which included 11 on the offensive end. Gibbs notched 12 points while Mooney (eight points and five rebounds) and Djogo (seven points and four rebounds) rounded out the top scorers.
Notre Dame shot 38.0 percent (30 of 79) from the field and 28.9 percent (11 of 38) from three-point territory. The Irish also won the rebounding battle 48-34 overall, which included a 26-19 advantage in offensive boards.
Thanks to a strong second half and overtime periods, Louisville finished 30 of 61 (49.2 percent) overall and 7 of 20 (35.0 percent) behind the arc. Spalding finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Adel notched 22 points and seven assists. Freshman guard Darius Perry added 14 points to complement the duo.
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