Louisville Celebration 2013 NCAA Tournament, Regional Champions, Final Four Bound, Louisville vs. Duke Regional Final Gorgui Dieng, Jordan Bond, Tim Henderson, Chane Behanan, Wayne Blackshear, Russ Smith, Peyton Siva, Luke Hancock Fitted

FLASHBACK: Louisville @ Notre Dame 5 Overtime 2-9-2013

Mark BlankenbakerMarch 3, 2015

Louisville & Notre Dame have played some absolute classic games. Since 1994, Louisville and Notre Dame have played 15 different times and have had 14 different overtime periods in 8 games. THAT IS A LOT. But it has also been a lot of fun……when the Cards win. Louisville is 20-12 All-Time vs. Notre Dame and 6-3 all-time vs. the Irish in games that go into Overtime.

The Apex example of Louisville vs. Notre Dame overtime drama was a 5 Overtime Affair on February 9, 2013. ESPN came in and hosted College GameDay from South Bend. The Cards and Irish had the 9:00 p.m. Primetime start time on Saturday night…..and the game would take over 3 hours to complete. 4 Cardinals would foul out (Gorgui Dieng, Peyton Siva, Kevin Ware, and Luke Hancock) as would 4 of the Irish (Tom Knight, Jack Cooley, Jerian Grant, Zach Auguste). 4 additional players would play with 4 fouls.

The player attrition allowed for the emergence of Garrick Sherman, who didn’t even check into the game until 2 minutes to go in the 1st Overtime. Sherman would take advantage with fresh legs and finished with 17 points & 6 rebounds and heretofore is known in Louisville as “The Shermantor” both for his appearance to the same name character portrayed by Chris Owen in the 1999 comedy film ‘American Pie’ and also for the way he killed the Cardinals down the stretch.

The loss for the Cards was the end of the mid-season lows for the Cards and was the 4th loss in 7 games for the Cards. After the 5 overtimes in South Bend Louisville reeled off 16 wins in a row, through the Big East Tournament, and through the NCAA Tournament becoming the 2013 Champions. Was the 5 Overtime game vs. South Bend the catalyst? Who knows…..but if you are a Cardinal fan you likely know where you were when you watched the Cards fall to the Irish that night and you remember how it felt and the juxtaposition of that feeling just 2 months later.