Notre Dame Falls To Louisville In OT
After dominating the first half, Notre Dame lost a 14 point lead and went into overtime with Louisville. The Irish struggled to put points on the board after the Cardinals pushed the game past regulation.
Preston Knowles, despite playing the final 10 minutes of regulation and overtime with four fouls, scored 20 points to lead No. 14 Louisville to an 83-77 victory over No. 4 Notre Dame on Friday night and a spot in the championship game of the Big East tournament.
The third-seeded Cardinals (25-8) will face ninth-seeded and 21st-ranked Connecticut, which advanced with a 76-71 overtime win over Syracuse.
It is the first time both Big East semifinals went to overtime and this was the third extra-sessiongame of the tournament, matching the record.
The overtime was certainly nothing new to these teams as six of their last 10 games have gone to the extra 5 minutes, including this season's meeting, an 87-79 Notre Dame win on Feb. 9.
Ben Hansbrough, the conference player of the year, struggled through one of his worst games of the season for the Irish (26-6), who had won 12 of 13. The senior guard finished 3 of 16 from the field for 16 points.
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