On a frigid Tuesday night in South Bend, Virginia walked into Purcell Pavilion as a double-digit favorite, looking to bounce back from a tough home loss to North Carolina. But what unfolded was anything but routine. Notre Dame, undermanned and under the radar, came out swinging - and for a while, it looked like the Cavaliers were about to get run out of the gym.
This was a classic college basketball ambush. Virginia, still licking its wounds from that blown 16-point lead against the Tar Heels, found itself down 21-11 before it could settle in.
The Irish, missing their top scorer, didn’t seem to care. They hit Virginia with a barrage of threes, energy, and confidence that felt completely out of sync with their recent form.
Head coach Ryan Odom put it plainly: “We were reeling a little bit.” That might be the understatement of the season.
Notre Dame’s backcourt duo of Cole Certa and Braeden Shrewsberry - the coach’s son - turned the first half into their own personal highlight reel. Certa, who averages just 10 points a game, was unconscious.
He hit one from the logo. Seriously.
Shrewsberry was just as deadly. Together, they combined for 30 points before halftime, and at one point stretched the lead to 19.
Virginia looked stunned. The crowd smelled blood. And if you were flipping channels and landed on anything else, no one would’ve blamed you.
But this Cavaliers team didn’t fold.
Thijs De Ridder and freshman guard Chance Mallory sparked a critical run that trimmed the deficit to single digits by halftime. De Ridder, in particular, was relentless - drawing nine fouls and hitting 14 of 15 from the free-throw line. His physicality gave Virginia a much-needed edge as they clawed back into the game.
Still, Notre Dame wasn’t going away. Even as Virginia took its first lead of the night midway through the second half, the Irish kept counterpunching. Certa and Shrewsberry stayed hot, and with less than a minute left in regulation, Notre Dame held a 70-66 lead.
Enter Sam Pierre Lewis.
The Chicago native had been waiting for his moment. With the Cavaliers needing a lifeline, Lewis drilled a clutch three to cut the lead to one possession. That shot helped send the game into overtime, tied at 73.
And he wasn’t done.
In the second overtime, with Virginia trailing 85-82 and the offense looking disjointed, Odom considered calling a timeout. But Lewis didn’t need a play drawn up. With the shot clock winding down and a defender in his face, he pulled up from the top of the key and buried a game-tying three with 3.5 seconds left.
“Big-time play by Sam Lewis,” Odom said afterward.
Momentum had officially shifted. Virginia seized control in the second extra period, even after De Ridder - who had poured in a career-high 34 points - fouled out with 45 seconds to go and the Cavaliers clinging to a one-point lead.
Once again, Lewis delivered. He hit a midrange jumper to push the lead to three, then iced the game with two free throws in the final seconds.
Final score: 100-95. A comeback for the ages.
Certa, who matched De Ridder with 34 points of his own, finally missed when it mattered most - a wide-open three with seven seconds left. That was Notre Dame’s last gasp.
For Virginia, it was the program’s biggest comeback since erasing a 19-point deficit against Arizona back in 2006. Not quite the record - that still belongs to the 1995 squad that rallied from 23 down at Duke - but this one will be remembered for a long time.
And for De Ridder, his performance marked the first 30-point game by a Cavalier since Kyle Guy lit up Marshall on New Year’s Eve in 2018.
Now 17-3 on the season and 5-1 on the road, Virginia heads to Boston this weekend, riding high after a gritty, gutsy win that showcased the heart of a team that just refuses to quit.