SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Steve Vasturia did it again.
This time, on both ends.
Four nights after hitting the game-winning 3-pointer in the ACC opener at Pittsburgh, Vasturia forced a turnover and delivered a big bucket in the closing minute to help No. 23 Notre Dame to a 77-70 victory over No. 9 Louisville at Purcell Pavilion.
Vasturia finished with 24 points while fellow guard Matt Farrell scored 22 for the Fighting Irish (13-2, 2-0 ACC).
"I think I've got the best guards in the country," Irish coach Mike Brey said.
Even before Farrell connected on a free throw -- the ball was barely halfway to the rim -- to put the Irish up by three and 1:05 remaining, Brey was barking out to his team -- "We need a stop!"
"He was just trying to get us fired up, get the crowd fired up," Vasturia said. "It was pretty funny you could hear him. That was a big stop."
Vasturia heard him, then dived into the lane and forced Deng Adel to panic with the ball and fumble it. V.J. Beachem corralled the loose ball, and the Irish were back down to the other end looking for more.
That meant looking for Vasturia.
With the shot clock below 10 and the possession seemingly going nowhere, Vasturia drove the lane and tossed in a floater with 20.5 seconds remaining.
Game effectively over.
"Confidence-wise, it's huge, not just for me but for the team," Vasturia said.
Donovan Mitchell led the Cardinals (12-3, 0-2) with 20 points. The Cardinals, who allowed a season high in points, shot 39.1 percent from the field, 25 percent from 3.
"Donovan played well," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "I think he understood what we wanted out of him. He's trying to play like a star. He's not the problem right now. It's just little defensive things that are keeping us from getting over the hump."
Notre Dame, leading the nation in free throw shooting at 84.1 percent, finished 22 of 25. The Irish went 15-of-16 in the second half.
"We played well enough to win tonight," Pitino said. "But if you have a free-throw shooting contest with Notre Dame, you're going to lose."
Louisville shot 13 for 18 from the foul line.
The Fighting Irish's Bonzie Colson added 18 points and 14 rebounds for his eighth double-double.
Notre Dame had no answer early for Mitchell, who was coming off a career-high 25 points in Saturday's victory over Indiana. Mitchell was back in the starting lineup Wednesday after coming off the bench Saturday, and looking to attack at every opportunity.
Vasturia brought the building to life with a 3 to put the Irish up six late in the first half. Mitchell answered with a wing 3 of his own to slice it in half. As it fell, Mitchell motioned to the crowd to sit down and be quiet.
Beachem finished with zero points and no shot attempts in 16 first-half minutes. The Cardinals ran a steady stream of long and lanky defenders at him. But they also used point guard Quentin Snider, who was giving up six inches to Beachem. Still, the senior had no success.
Beachem returned with the first Irish bucket of the second half -- a pull-up jumper from the foul line. It was his only basket. Brey refuses to "over-analyze" Beachem's struggles, and praised his play Wednesday for allowing the Irish offense to continue to cut and move with his activity.
NOTES:
-- The Cardinals were without junior C Matz Stockman, who suffered a concussion earlier in the week in practice.
-- Louisville fell to 3-1 against teams from Indiana this season.
-- The Cardinals were last in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (33.1), but first in 3-point field goal percentage defense (27.3).
-- Notre Dame and Louisville are two of a league-record seven ranked teams in this week's Top 25 poll.
-- Both teams finished the fall semesters with 3.1 grade-point averages.
-- Louisville is one of four repeat league opponents for Notre Dame. These teams meet again March 4 at Yum! Center in the regular-season finale.
-- The Irish close a conference stretch of three games in eight days Saturday at home against Clemson.
