SOUTH BEND, Ind. â€" By forcing UConn into 27 turnovers Saturday, Notre Dame did something that not many teams have accomplished over the past two decades.
It had the Huskies, a seven-time national champion, expressing remorse over opportunity lost during its 74-67 overtime loss to the Fighting Irish.
And that is more rare than overtime games for the Huskies. In fact, the last time that UConn was pushed to extra time in a Big East game was at Villanova on Feb. 24, 1998.
You may recall that something else also happened that night. Think Nykesha Sales, walking boot and the resulting national hysteria.
Both games had something in common. They left coach Geno Auriemma feeling incredulous.
"They [Notre Dame] took advantage of every situation we gave them to win the game," Auriemma said. "And they did [win the game]. We're up by two points and have the ball with under a minute left. We're supposed to win that game and we didn't, we didn't."
Notre Dame was also able to forward the theory that perhaps, after all these years, UConn might have finally met its full-time foil in the conference.
"It's a great win, especially at home," Notre Dame's Natalie Novosel said. "I don't think any of us on this team had ever beaten UConn here. So that's an amazing win for us."
During his illustrious, record-breaking run through women's basketball, Auriemma has noticed how programs in the Big East manage to rear their heads in opposition to UConn, but usually only for a year or two before recoiling.
Rutgers and Louisville took turns threatening the crown. Notre Dame even won it in 2001, first by beating UConn in the national semifinals in St. Louis.
Last year, the Irish avenged three regular-season and conference tournament losses to UConn by defeating the Huskies again in the national semifinals in Indianapolis, before losing to Texas A&M in the championship game.
If the Irish are to be taken seriously by UConn, this year and down the road, they are going to need to start beating them with regularity.
"This gives us continued confidence," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "We came out of the Final Four, and playing in the national championship game, thinking we are a pretty good team. And then you start all over again by proving ourselves again. So coming out like we did [Saturday], beating a team with such a great reputation, that's so well-coached and has a high national rank, feels really good."
"I think we go into games now expecting to win. We have the confidence in each other. It's a different feeling, but we didn't go into the Baylor game that way [where Notre Dame lost its only game in November]. We've matured to that point now. Winning a game like this continues to feed that confidence."
Auriemma sounded surprised and disappointed about the manner in which UConn lost Saturday. UConn's sloppy play was both uncharacteristic and unexpected.
"I was surprised by it because we have like 100 more assists than turnovers this season and probably are one of the best ball-handling teams in the country," he said.
He pointed at the number of foul shots that Notre Dame took (29 to 23), the number of shots that UConn couldn't take because of turnovers and the defense that held the nation's premier scoring team to just 74 points and 35.8 percent from the field.
He talked of the distress his players felt watching a game they should have won slip away in the final minute.
"They are one of the top three teams in the country for a reason," Auriemma said. "If you are thinking [as UConn] that you are just going to come in here [South Bend] after losing a kid who scored 3,000 points [Maya Moore] and kick their butt, you are dreaming."
"But this is Connecticut and there is no way we should lose this game [Saturday]."
So if Notre Dame is serious about putting pressure on UConn this year, next year or for the next decade, Auriemma says join the club and good luck.
"Well, we'll see in 5 or 10 years," Aureimma said. "Notre Dame was there from 1997-2001, and then went away for awhile and then came back. So we will see if they can stay."
"But, Notre Dame is one of the top teams in America and I don't expect that to change, I wouldn't think they will go anywhere but where they are right now. I can't imagine that happening."
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