Northwestern Gives #23 Notre Dame 1st loss of season

It’s official, ND is once again overrated. And NU is once again underrated. In the Chicago Invitational Challenge at the UIC Pavilion, John Shurna, Juice Thompson and the Northwestern Wildcats gave Luke Harangody and the Notre Dame their first loss of the season, in dramatic upset fashion 72-58.

So is this redemption for the loss to Butler a couple weeks ago?

“Butler is a good team, and that was obviously a tough loss, but any win you got to feel happy about, and when it’s against a like Notre Dame, it makes it all the more sweet,” said John Shurna who lead all scorers with 25 points, on 3-5 from behind the arc.

At the beginning of the game, Notre Dame’s fans were firmly in control of the crowd, they were essentially the home team. But towards the end, we heard a lot of “Let’s go Cats” chants from UIC Pavilion ticket holders.

“It was a fun environment to play in, with two almost Chicagoland schools, a fun atmosphere,” Shurna said.

It was certainly a fun place for the legions of college sports fans who despise Notre Dame. Not only did the Irish suffer their first loss of the season, but their star duo (Luke Harangody and Ben Hansbrough), who so many fans dislike suffered through a very off night. Luke shot 7-19 from the field, Ben 1-10.

“If you would have told me Hansbrough would be 0-7 {on three-pointers} I don’t know if I would have believed that. Five of them were great looks, and he’s been shooting a pretty good clip. He’s got to score more than 4 for us, if we’re going to be a successful team against anybody,” said Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey.

Read how and why by clicking here.

And in case you’re in the mood for the fight song, watch the video below