Can Virginia continue its dominance over Louisville today?

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia did a lot of things right in knocking off NC State earlier in the week. The Cavaliers cut down their turnovers, made 3-pointers, beat State’s defensive pressure and established some inside scoring early, which loosened things up on the perimeter.

All that helped UVA (8-5, 1-1 ACC) come back from a 14-point deficit.

Coach Ron Sanchez hopes his team continues to build on that success this afternoon when Louisville (9-5, 2-1 ACC) comes to John Paul Jones Arena for a 4-p.m. contest (ACC Network, Louisville 3.5-point favorite).

The Cardinals, under new coach Pat Kelsey, will attempt to break one of the longest streaks in the ACC, having never beaten Virginia on the road since joining the conference. In fact, Louisville, which has lost 18 of its last 19 meetings against the Cavaliers, haven’t tasted victory in Charlottesville since Feb. 17, 1990 (in University Hall, when the Cardinals were members of the Metro Conference).

Louisville mirrors UVA in a way, with all of its five losses coming against teams ranked in the Top 25, including setbacks against Tennessee, Duke and Kentucky. Four of UVA’s five losses also came against ranked teams (Tennessee, St. John’s, Florida and Memphis).

The Cardinals, though, are coming off an impressive 83-70 win over North Carolina. That game was knotted at 61-all with 8:37 to play before the Cardinals outscored the Tar Heels, 22-9, the rest of the way, including a 13-2 run over the final three minutes.

Chucky Hepburn led the way with 26 points (16 at the free-throw line), while Reyne Smith added 17.

Louisville is a team that likes the 3-pointer, entering today’s game ranked No. 8 nationally in 3-point attempts per game (32). Virginia is coming off one of its better nights from the arc, having made 9 of 20 against NC State, including 7 of 13 in the second-half comeback. In that 20-minute frame, the Cavaliers made 7 of their first 10.

Isaac McKneely was 4 of 9 from downtown and got off 14 field-goal attempts, which was a bonus for the UVA offense. Andrew Rohde and Ishan Sharma each added two more 3-pointers.

All of that was possible due to the Cavaliers attacking the paint early on, with forward Elijah Saunders leading the way with a game-high 22 points.

“I think really good offense is played inside-out, not outside-in,” Sanchez said. “When you start scoring on the inside, you attract some attention. Elijah did a really good job, looked like an upperclassman helping us get that established.”

Virginia turned the ball over only seven times in the game, more importantly only once in the second half against an NC State team that threw a lot of pressure on the Cavaliers.

UVA enters today’s game ranked among the nation’s top 25 3-point shooting teams, at a 38.5-percent clip. McKneely is No. 2 in the ACC in a couple of 3-point categories.

Look for the Cardinals — particularly guards Hepburn and Smith and 6-6 swingman Terrence Edwards — to apply heavy ball pressure on McKneely and Rohde.

It will be interesting to see how Sanchez uses his guards against Louisville. Dai Dai Ames, who had been the starting point guard, played only 8.7 minutes against NC State, didn’t get off the bench in the second half. It was Sanchez’ decision to not play Ames and instead, rode Rohde, who delivered with seven assists and one turnover in 36 minutes.

Taine Murray and Sharma also handled the ball, and even 6-9 freshman Jacob Cofie is capable of bringing up the ball against another forward or center.

Meanwhile, Louisville will present a challenge for Virginia’s “Pack-Line” defense. UVA assistant coach Isaiah Wilkins, who scouted the Cardinals, told Sanchez that Louisville used 83 sets over the last four games.