Notre Dame beat Villanova 74-72 on Nov. 1 in Rome, finishing a last-minute comeback that turned an overseas season opener into a tight finish at Palazzo dello Sport. The Fighting Irish women’s team also won, 99-75, as the weekend’s basketball results matched the scale of the setting.
For Sean Callahan, the trip had already become bigger than the final score. He called the papal audience on Oct. 31 “a very unique and wonderful once in a lifetime experience,” after Pope Leo met with 6,000 fans, alumni and athletes in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall and dribbled a golden basketball in front of them. Callahan even wore a bishop’s miter he bought at a costume store for the weekend, a small sign of how much the Rome gathering had turned into its own event.
That is why the game drew so much attention in the first place. Notre Dame and Villanova met in the Eternal City Tip Off, a season opener unlike a normal November game because it was staged in Rome and wrapped around a papal audience that pulled in supporters from both schools. Pope Leo, a Villanova graduate from 1977, told the crowd he grew up hearing “Go Irish” on the South Side of Chicago, but added that he does not take sides. He still flashed Villanova’s signature “V” sign while posing for a photo with the Villanova basketball team, even after receiving a custom Notre Dame basketball jersey from the students.
That mix of distance and familiarity defined the weekend. Father Alex Nevitt called the game “awesome” and spoke about the fraternity between Villanova and Notre Dame and their fans, while Jim Farrington said it had to be the best place for opening basketball between the two Catholic universities. John Ermilio said the audience was an honor, and Father Robert Dowd summed up the moment with a grin: “Just what you always wanted!” What remains after the novelty is the result itself, because Notre Dame’s 74-72 escape gave the overseas opener real stakes and left Villanova with the sharper question — how a game that close slipped away in the final minute.
