After Trying Seasons, Notre Dame Winter Sports Get Wins on Saturday

Notre Dame hockey and men's basketball both picked up unlikely wins on Saturday

Feb 28, 2026; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Cole Certa (5) celebrates making a 3-point shot during overtime at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center. | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

It hasn't exactly been a winter to remember for Notre Dame's hockey team or men's basketball team, but Saturday was a rare bright spot for both.

The men's basketball team has struggled mightily this season, going just 12-16 overall and 3-12 in ACC play entering the weekend. It hosted North Carolina State on Saturday, and despite trailing by seven with under three minutes to play, rallied to force overtime against the likely-tournament bound Wolfpack.

In the extra frame, Cole Certa erupted, scoring 12 of Notre Dame's 15 points, and guiding the Irish to a 96-90 win. The victory won't be enough on its own, but if the Irish can win against Stanford or at Boston College in the coming week, then they could be headed to the ACC Tournament, as only 15 of the 18 conference schools make it.

That doesn't save the season by any means, but it would save the potential embarrassment of not even qualifying for the ACC Tournament. Like I've said before, if your neighbors are inviting the entire block to a party, wouldn't you at least like to be invited, even if you're not going to stay long?

Men's Hockey Upsets No. 5 Penn State

Notre Dame hockey closed the home portion of the season with a thrilling, 4-3 overtime victory over Penn State.

This came one night after jumping out to a 3-0 lead over Penn State in the series opener, only to surrender that and fall in a shootout.

Danny Nelson had a pair of goals for the Irish on Saturday night, before Axel Kumlin took advantage of a Penn State miscue to win the game in overtime.

AXEL KUMLIN NETS THE OT GAME-WINNER 🚨@NDHockey knocks off No. 5 Penn State on Senior Night 🙌 pic.twitter.com/sUF2GgHKe5

— Big Ten Hockey (@B1GHockey) March 1, 2026

As is tradition on senior night, Notre Dame donned their green sweaters and knocked off a top-five team nationally while doing so.

Notre Dame gets a big win after what has been a disappointing year. The Fighting Irish improved to just 7-22-5 on the year after the victory, going just 3-17-2 in Big Ten play.

Notre Dame hockey will return to action next weekend at Ohio State for two games to conclude the regular season.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thought

Although it doesn't change anything about the state of either program or just how much either have fallen in recent years, it was a nice little Saturday for both.

Can these wins do anything to change the tone for next year? It's hard to go that far but in the college sports world where tanking isn't rewarded, it's better to win these games even if the overall impact isn't much.