Notre Dame Sweeps Villanova in Eternal City Tip-Off Games Held in Rome

Notre Dame beat Villanova 74-72 on Sunday in Rome, scoring late to complete a comeback in the men's game that opened the college basketball season there. Notre Dame also won the women's game, 99-75, completing a sweep of the doubleheader dubbed the Eternal City Tip-Off. The event was created to honor Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, who did not attend the games. Villanova brought many more traveling fans. Many wore Wildcats jerseys reading "Pope Leo" with "XIV" as the number. Leo, born in Chicago as Robert Prevost, graduated from Villanova in 1977. He received all four teams in an audience at the Vatican on Saturday, in front of about 7,000 players, coaches, fans and family members from both schools. He told them the pontiff is neutral in sports, then joked that Prevost might hold another opinion. Notre Dame men's coach Micah Shrewsberry called the trip one of the top experiences of his career and said two preseason road games prepared his team for loud Villanova fans. In the women's game, Hannah Hidalgo starred for No. 13 Notre Dame.

CBS News, the left-leaning outlet, gives the fullest account of the events around the games. It leads with the pope's support for Villanova and the late Notre Dame comeback, then adds the women's score, the Vatican audience and the pope's neutrality joke, plus coach Shrewsberry's quote about the experience and the loud Villanova fans. Its headline stresses that the pope's backing did not help Villanova. The right-leaning Washington Times, in the excerpt available, uses the same opening line about the pope's support and many more traveling fans, and its headline says Notre Dame took the Catholic showcase. That excerpt gives no score, quotes or Vatican details. Both sides agree on the core facts: Villanova had the pope's backing and bigger traveling support, while Notre Dame won. The difference is in depth, not in claims, since CBS adds papal remarks and a coach's voice. The AP, in the alternative group, mirrors both and adds Hidalgo's performance.