Notre Dame Can’t Survive Droughts And Loses To Louisville 82-78 In Double OT

Of course it was going to get wild and weird inside Purcell Pavilion when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish played host to the Louisville Cardinals.

That opening sentence was about as nice as it gets. It was a physical game that saw a lot of fouls, and a lot of no-fouls (typical ACC game with Louisville). The Irish jumped out to a 10 point lead in the first half, as they looked to be a little more potent on offense with the return of Matt Farrell.

That lead didn’t last very long.

Louisville went on a run of their own, and when the two teams went into the half, the Cardinals were up two.

It was back and forth for the rest of the second half. Although Matt Farrell was on fire in the first half and scored 15 points, he managed only 8 more though the second half and two overtimes. The injury was probably still slowing his body down a bit.

In those overtimes, Louisville used a combination of going inside and clutch 3 point shooting to finally get that edge for the win in the final seconds.

Martinas Geben was a manimal and scored 22 points with 17 rebounds, and really carried the Irish for most of the second half / overtimes.

Notre Dame had their chances (quite a few actually) but poor screen plays and sloppy play thwarted them at every turn. The most significant was one of the last plays when T.J. Gibbs tried to go up and around both Anas Mahmoud and the backboard with a one hand shot - but it never came close.

Louisville had their own outstanding scorers with Ray Spaulding dropping 23 and Quinn Snider scoring 22.

It was just another game that, despite the return of Farrell, reminds us all of what this team could have been with a healthy Bonzie Colson. Notre Dame could of and should have won this game, but they didn’t - and that’s what this season is quickly turning into.

Notre Dame has now dropped three straight games, and in the ACC, it doesn’t get any easier.