Notre Dame's Matt Farrell Has Emotional Surprise Reunion With Brother Back From Afghanistan

College basketball player Matt Farrell was overcome with emotion when the soldier brother he thought was serving in Afghanistan paid him a surprise on-court visit.

The Notre Dame junior point guard was speaking with his older sibling Bo Farrell on the big screen via what he believed was a video link after Monday’s game versus Colgate at the Edmund P. Joyce Center arena. His brother had been due to return to the U.S. in February.

But Bo Farrell was actually elsewhere inside the arena. On finishing his message, he walked onto the court and shared a teary embrace with his stunned sportsman brother.

”I didn’t know he was here,” Matt Farrell told the Indianapolis Star after the reunion, following a 77-62 Notre Dame victory in which he scored 13 points.

“We don’t ask much for Christmas, anyway,” added Farrell, from Bridgewater in New Jersey. “So this is the best Christmas present I’ve ever had.”