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Seven Memorable Notre Dame Wins
March 17, 2017 02:23 PM | Men's Basketball
Content in this story is from a story written by John Antonik on February 7, 2012.
As the Mountaineers prepare to renew an old Big East rivalry on Saturday afternoon, here are seven of the best games against Notre Dame.
1. Feb. 1, 2006 – West Virginia 71, Notre Dame 70
Notre Dame rallied from down 71-65 in the final minute to nearly pull off its 10th straight win over West Virginia, ranked 11th in the country at the time following wins over Oklahoma, Marquette and UCLA. But Chris Quinn missed a running jumper in the lane at the buzzer to preserve the Mountaineers’ 71-70 victory - John Beilein’s lone win against Notre Dame as West Virginia’s coach. “Tonight’s game wasn’t about who had better players or better coaches,” said Beilein. “That shot was all about luck. We had some good luck and they had some bad luck.”
2. March 12, 2010 – West Virginia 53, Notre Dame 51
West Virginia watched its 10-point second half lead evaporate right in front of its eyes in the semifinal round of the 2010 Big East tournament in Madison Square Garden. Missed free throws by the Mountaineers got Notre Dame back into the game, and the Irish eventually pulled to within two, 53-51, on two Ben Hansbrough free throws. Da’Sean Butler’s missed 3-point try with 12 seconds left gave Notre Dame an opportunity to win the game, but Tory Jackson missed a 3-point try from the top of the key with four seconds left and Wellington Smith was able to strip Tyrone Nash before he could attempt a game tying put-back. “I’m starting to have a lot of confidence in our guys screwing up enough to let them back into the game,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins joked afterward.
3. February 19, 1977 – West Virginia 81, Notre Dame 68
Maurice Robinson scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead West Virginia to an 81-68 victory over a Notre Dame team that came into the Coliseum riding a nine-game winning streak. The Mountaineers jumped out to an early double-digit advantage and led by 13 at halftime. Midway through the second half, the Irish scored seven straight to cut West Virginia’s lead to five, 55-50, but Bob Huggins scored back-to-back baskets and Robinson hit a layup to put the margin back to 11. Huggins made five of seven from the floor to add 14 points in a winning cause.
4. January 17, 1987 – West Virginia 57, Notre Dame 55
J.J. Crawl’s pair of free throws with eight seconds left gave the Mountaineers enough breathing room to defeat Notre Dame 57-55 in South Bend. West Virginia played a good portion of the second half without top forward Darryl Prue, who fouled out, and top guard Herbie Brooks, who suffered a head contusion while fighting for a rebound underneath the basket. Crawl had 15 for West Virginia and held Notre Dame’s top player, David Rivers, to just 7 points on one of seven shooting. Later that year, Notre Dame knocked off No. 1-ranked North Carolina and also topped 15th-ranked Duke and fourth-ranked DePaul on the way to a 24-win season.
5. January 27, 1996 – West Virginia 69, Notre Dame 59
Guard Cyrus Jones scored 19 points and Notre Dame missed some big free throws down the stretch to help West Virginia collect its first road victory of the season – and the school’s first-ever road win in Big East play. But instead of asking Coach Gale Catlett about that, the first question reporters asked him afterward was about his decision to banish starting forward Gordon Malone to the locker room during the game. After chiding them for bringing up such a thorny subject, Catlett went on to call it a “monumental win” for the program. Considering the circumstances, it probably was.
6. February 3, 1972 – West Virginia 97, Notre Dame 87
Notre Dame was on its way to a non-descript 6-20 record under first-year coach Digger Phelps, but what made this victory so memorable for West Virginia was the circumstances surrounding the game. It was the first win for the Mountaineers following the tragic automobile accident that claimed the life of Larry Harris and the playing career of Sam Oglesby. Academic suspensions and injuries had whittled the Mountaineers’ roster down to eight players, one of them being Sistersville forward Mike Carson, who came off the bench to hit three big shots from the wing to help the Mountaineers to their 10-point win. The rest of the scoring came from Wil Robinson (39), Curt Price (16) and Mike Heitz (14).
7. January 25, 1997 – West Virginia 67, Notre Dame 66
Damian Owens made two free throws with two seconds left to lift West Virginia to a 67-66 victory over Notre Dame at the WVU Coliseum. Owens was sent to the line with 6.9 seconds left when Notre Dame’s Derek Manner was called for a blocking foul during Owens’ drive to the basket. After Owens’ two free throws, Notre Dame had two chances for the final shot. WVU deflected a three-quarter court pass out of bounds and then, with a tenth of a second remaining, Admore White’s high lob in front of the rim couldn’t be controlled as the horn sounded. Owens outscored Notre Dame’s Pat Garrity 25-22 in a matchup of all-conference forwards.
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