Sports

After whipping Notre Dame, Louisville has chance at Big East repeat

Rick Pitino and his Louisville squad have a chance to make Big East championship history.

Louisville, who won the tournament last year, returned to the finals last night, doing what it does just about every year — knocking out Notre Dame — this time a 69-57 decision — in the semifinals Friday night at the Garden.

The second-seeded Cardinals will face fifth-seeded Syracuse Saturday night.

“[Repeating] would mean a lot,” guard Russ Smith said. “ ‘Meaning a lot’ is really an understatement because it’s the last Big East.”

The last team to repeat as Big East Tournament champions was — ironically — Syracuse in 2005-06. Louisville — in the finals for the third straight year (it lost to UConn in 2011) — is not only going for consecutive titles but for three crowns in five seasons. The Cardinals also won it in 2009, beating Jonny Flynn’s Syracuse squad in the championship.

Should Louisville win, it will be the fourth school to repeat as champions in the tournament’s 34 years. The others were Syracuse, UConn in 1998-99 and Georgetown in 1984-85.

“I think around this time of year, Coach really pushes us to bring our game up to a higher level,” point guard Peyton Siva said.

Last year, Louisville beat Cincinnati in the championship, with Siva taking home MVP honors.

Last night, the senior spearheaded the Cardinals attack, racking up 12 points, a tournament record-tying seven steals and six assists. Smith, a Molloy High School alum, scored a game-high 20, following his 28-point outing against Villanova on Thursday.

The Cardinals, who have won nine in a row and split their two-game season series against the Orange, never trailed the entire night.

“I say this, I keep repeating it over and over and over,” Pitino said. “The two greatest people I’ve ever coached in my life were Billy Donovan and Peyton Siva, just as people, and then you match the fact that they were both great point guards.”

Notre Dame never has been able to move to the Big East finals, falling to 0-6 in the semifinals. The main reason the Irish haven’t gone to the title game is because of the Cards — Louisville has beaten them in three straight semis. And Notre Dame is now headed to the ACC.

“I’m very disappointed we could never get to Saturday,” Irish coach Mike Brey said.

mark.hale@nypost.com