When the Irish welcomed No. 17 Virginia Cavaliers to a snowy South Bend on Tuesday night, the two programs were moving in complete opposite directions. The Irish (11-9) eked out a four-point win against Boston College (9-11) on Saturday night, halting a five-game losing streak. A 22-point effort from junior guard Braeden Shrewsberry propelled the Irish past the Eagles in a much-needed “get-right” game for Notre Dame.
Meanwhile, Virginia began ACC play as winners of five of their first six games, including road wins against the likes of NC State, Louisville and SMU. In the Cavaliers’last outing, they suffered their third loss – and first home loss – of the season at the hands of North Carolina. Virginia led by as many as 16 before blowing the lead – their largest blown lead since the 2016 Elite Eight versus Syracuse. Despite the recent loss, Virginia head coach Ryan Odom has the Cavaliers playing at their best in his first year at the helm.
It was the Braeden Shrewsberry and Cole Certa show in the first half for the Irish. Shrewsberry picked up right where he left off, draining two threes in the first four minutes of game action while also adding a three-pointer plus the foul and executing the four-point play at the free-throw line. Shrewsberry added a fast-break layup, bringing his point total to 11 through just six and a half minutes. A three-point basket from freshman forward Brady Koehler forced a Virginia timeout with 12:30 to go in the first half.
The Cavaliers rely heavily on the three-point shot, with 37.3% of their total points coming from three-pointers. Odom’s squad began the game one of ten from beyond the arc, contributing to an early 13-point Irish lead. Another Shrewsberry three-pointer extended the lead to 16 for the Irish, causing the Irish faithful around Purcell Pavilion to rise to their feet during the under-eight media timeout.
Junior guard Sam Lewis stopped the Cavalier three-point drought out of the media timeout. Late in the first half, Certa drained a deep three-pointer in addition to a made three off an inbounds play that extended the lead to 19 for the Irish.
Virginia crawled back into the game to end the first half thanks to freshman forward Thijs De Ridder. The 6-foot-9 forward scored 14 points in the first half, including 10 points coming in the last six minutes of the half. Despite leading by as much as 19, the Irish went into the locker room up just nine points.
The Irish came out of the locker room with vengeance as if they were the team trailing. An offensive rebound and put-back from senior forward Carson Towt, a pair of Koehler blocks and a dunk from freshman star guard Jalen Haralson set the tone for the Irish to start the second half. The Irish lead reached 12 with under 15 minutes to go.
Despite the poor shooting performance in the first half, the pesky Cavaliers would not go away. Lewis and freshman guard Chance Mallory knocked down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to bring the Virginia deficit down to six.
A three-minute long Irish scoring drought and a three-point basket from sixth-year grad student forward Devin Tillis brought the Irish lead to one with 10:44 to go in the second half. The Notre Dame offense continued to slow, leading to a 17-2 Virginia run. Virginia took its first lead since 17:05 in the first half with a pair of De Ridder free throws.
A set of Koehler free throws ended the scoring drought for the Irish which spanned over four minutes. Less than two minutes later, Haralson drove to the basket for a layup, snapping an Irish field goal drought that had lasted for over six minutes.
The Irish and Cavaliers exchanged blows in the last six minutes. A Towt layup tied the game at 62 with 5:19 to go. Later, a pair of free throws from Koehler tied the game again at 64. With the help of Koehler and Certa, Notre Dame led by six with just over two minutes to go. The Cavaliers rode with De Ridder down the stretch. The 22-year-old freshman from Belgium played a central part in Towt fouling out with 2:02 to go in the second half.
With under a minute left, a Lewis three-pointer cut the deficit back down to one for the Cavaliers. Following a De Ridder layup to put Virginia up one, Certa responded with a three-pointer to catapult the Irish back into the lead. A shooting foul on the other end resulted in two made free throws for Tillis, knotting the game at 73. With 8.6 seconds left in the second half, Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry called a timeout.
Following the timeout, Certa missed a fadeaway three, but the Irish were awarded another chance after it was reviewed that the ball went off a Cavalier player with 0.7 seconds remaining. With enough time to get a shot off, Braeden Shrewsberry had a great look from the left wing to win the game and missed the shot off the back rim. Virginia fans gave a sigh of relief, and there was free basketball in South Bend.
To start overtime, Haralson nailed a pair of free throws and Koehler executed on a fast break layup to give the Irish an early four-point lead less than a minute into the extra period. The two teams traded blows before a layup by guard Malik Thomas and two made free throws by Mallory tied the game at 80.
With less than 90 seconds to go, Shrewsberry drilled a three-pointer, giving the Irish a three-point lead. A tip-in by De Ridder was countered by a pair of free throws from Certa, which brought the lead back to three for the Irish with 19 seconds to go. After a sloppy offensive possession, Lewis buried a three-pointer with 3.5 seconds to go, forcing double-overtime.
After the game, Shrewsberry discussed his thought process on not fouling up on the three-pointer. “I have to live with that, but I’m not going to let the same mistake happen to me twice, right? We lost to Cal on a four-point play. I was gun-shy because of what happened at Cal.”
Shrewsberry is referring to the Irish’s matchup against California earlier this season when he decided to foul up three points and California guard Dai Dai Ames nailed the three and converted on the four-point play when a foul was called on the shot. Shrewsberry opted not to foul this time around and the Cavaliers forced a second overtime.
Just 12 seconds into double-overtime, Koehler committed his fifth and final foul; Shrewsberry elected to sub in sophomore guard Sir Mohammed. Yet again, the two teams would not give up. Haralson regained the lead for the Irish with an old-fashioned three-point play. Not to be outdone, Mallory answered the next possession with a corner three, giving the Cavaliers a one-point lead, 92-91.
With 45 seconds remaining, Haralson nailed two free throws, cutting the Virginia lead down to one. On the other end, Lewis hit a foul line jumper to put Virginia back up three with 16 seconds to go. After a Notre Dame timeout, Certa missed a three, resulting in a Lewis rebound where he traveled to the charity stripe and drained two free throws to seal it for the Cavaliers. A late layup by Haralson reduced the lead to three, but it was too late for the Irish. Virginia won by a final score of 100-97.
Postgame, Odom said, “It’s one of those [games] that you hate when anybody ends up losing, but we have so much respect for Notre Dame and the way that they run their program.” For Odom and Virginia, it’s a culture-building win for a team that has aspirations of making a deep run in March.
On the other side, Shrewsberry emphasized how much growth he’s seen in his players during this season. “I’ll be the first one to tell you that I hate losing but I’m seeing growth in this process, and I’m seeing these guys grow every single day, and that’s all I care about.” It is a brutal loss for a Notre Dame team that badly needed a resume-boosting victory, but there is something positive that came from Tuesday night’s loss – growth.
As the calendar nears February, time is running out for the Irish. If Notre Dame wanted any chance of receiving an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Tournament, a ranked win against Virginia would have certainly turned the heads of committee members. Since the onset of conference play, Notre Dame has yet to record a statement win. It looks like Notre Dame and Irish fans will have to be a bit more patient.
Notre Dame will go on the road in three of their next four contests, starting with a date in upstate New York against Syracuse on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.