The ice on his left knee provided relief to a well-used joint after the game.
The ice in his veins provided so much more at crunch time.
With the shot clock down to four seconds, with pesky Villanova guard Mike Nardi in his face, with opportunity vanishing and the game slipping away, Chris Thomas gathered himself and fired.
His shot, an arcing 17-foot beauty, swished through the net to give Notre Dame a four-point lead.
Four free throws and 57 seconds of fantastic defense later, the Irish (10-2, 2-0 Big East) had a 78-72 victory before a crowd of 11,014 at the Joyce Center.
“He’s the only guy in the Big East who could have made that shot,” Irish coach Mike Brey said of the senior point guard. “[More important,] he’s the only guy in the league who would have taken that shot.”
It’s a practiced art.
“It was the only shot available,” Thomas said. “I was telling the guys earlier that I play a lot of horse and I win a lot of money that way. It was lucky.”
Notre Dame, however, had put itself in position to take advantage of its luck, hitting all 19 of its free-throw attempts, with Thomas going 8 of 8.
The Irish shot 41.6 percent, 55 percent on three-pointers against a Wildcats team that had been holding opponents to 35 percent shooting. Notre Dame’s 78 points were the most Villanova has allowed this season.
Thomas, who played all 40 minutes, led the Irish with 25 points. The Irish’s three-guard offense tormented the Wildcats as Chris Quinn and Colin Falls scored 16 apiece, and junior transfer Dennis Latimore added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Villanova got a game-high 26 points from Randy Foye. Allan Ray added 13 and Nardi 11.
Villanova’s backcourt was without junior forward Curtis Sumpter, who leads the Wildcats with 17.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. He was sidelined after suffering a sprained right knee near the end of practice Friday.
“We were just a little bit more predictable offensively,” Wildcats coach Jay Wright said.
Villanova jumped to a 16-10 lead less than five minutes into the game, but the Irish slowly chipped away and took a 27-25 lead on Thomas’ three-pointer with 7:09 left in the first half.
Villanova reclaimed the lead with 4:05 remaining in the game when Nardi converted a pass from Jason Fraser to put the Wildcats up 67-66.
Thomas’ two free throws 31 seconds later put the Irish up 68-67, and the lead changed hands twice more. But Thomas, who scored eight of his points in the final 3:34, made sure it wound up in Notre Dame’s hands.
“It’s what great players do,” Wright said of Thomas. “He has ice in his veins.”
