(MCT) — SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Soon as the doors opened Thursday, in they ran, devouring every last inch of the Notre Dame student section: Three guys dressed as bananas, a fleet of representatives from the No. 1 football team in the nation, the guy with the sign accusing Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel of loving the band Nickelback.

They and the bulk of the Purcell Pavilion crowd slipped “Black Out” T-shirts over their heads and had the joint crackling. When it was done, when the Irish mouthwashed early season struggles with a 64-50 deconstruction of the defending national champions, onto the court they sprinted, conjuring the scene from last winter’s upset of No. 1 Syracuse.