INDIANAPOLIS ― Someone with the most famous surname in Butler basketball history was back Friday, Oct. 17, at Hinkle Fieldhouse, only this time, running up and down the famed floor.
And then. icing the game from the foul line with so many family and friends and people he saw around these parts watching from the stands.
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Notre Dame basketball sophomore guard Brady Stevens, whose father, Brad, coached Butler to unimaginable heights in 2010 and 2011, checked into Friday’s exhibition game against his father’s former school with 7:57 remaining in the second half.
Stevens made two free throws with 3:06 left to put the Irish up by nine. He then made two more to push the Irish ahead by seven, 74-67, with 32.5 seconds left. Next time down, he split a pair.
With eight seconds remaining and the Irish up two, Stevens made two final free throws. The second one was the difference in a 77-76 Irish win. Stevens scored seven points in just under eight minutes.
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“It was really cool,” Irish guard Braeden Shrewsberry said of one of his closest friends. “I know he was loving the moment just being back in Hinkle. That’s who he is. he wanted to ice those free throws.”
Brad Stevens was there in attendance at Hinkle to see it. He was recognized during the second media timeout of the first half. Stevens and his family sat in the family section behind the Notre Dame bench.
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“It was awesome,” said Irish coach Micah Shrewsberry. “It was a lot of pressure. I was here when Brad was here. Brady’s been thinking about this forever, since the game came out, thinking about, ‘I’ve got to come back and play this game in this arena that I grew up in.’
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“That’s a tough situation. He handled it.”
Stevens is a 6-foot-4, 195-pound reserve guard for the Irish. He joined the program in 2024-25 as a preferred walk-on after averaging 23.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists as a senior at Wellesley High School in Boston. Stevens did not appear in a regular season game last season. He did play 4:25 and scored two points with one rebound in last October’s exhibition at Purdue Fort Wayne, a 91-54 win.
Often last year, as was the case again Friday, Stevens was the first out of the locker room to get loose and get shots up 90 minutes before tip.
Friday was the first time Butler and Notre Dame met since a 67-64 Irish overtime victory in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament in Pittsburgh. This was the first time the teams have played at Hinkle since a 76-60 Butler win on February 15, 1995. That was the last year that Notre Dame operated as an independent before joining the Big East.
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The Irish lead the series, which first started in 1909, 72-31, 29-20 at Hinkle.
Butler and Notre Dame are scheduled to meet in an exhibition at Purcell Pavilion in October 2026.
Brad Stevens spent six seasons (2007-13) as the coach at Butler. He went 166-49 and led the Bulldogs, then a member of the Horizon League, to consecutive NCAA Tournament Final Fours/championship games. Among those on his staff was Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry, who spent four years (2007-11) as a Bulldog assistant before rejoining Stevens in 2013 to serve on his staff with the Boston Celtics.
Stevens is president of basketball operations for the Celtics after serving eight seasons as head coach.
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Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Hinkle Fieldhouse is like home for one Notre Dame basketball player
