Hoos bounce back, trounce Cardinals behind team effort, 77-53

By Scott Ratcliffe

John Paul Jones Arena has certainly been a welcome sight for the Virginia men’s basketball team, which got back in the win column on its home court Wednesday night against Louisville in convincing fashion, 77-53.

With the victory, the Cavaliers not only improved to 11-3 on the season and 2-1 in ACC play, but also won their 19th-straight game at JPJ (9-0 in 2023-24), and own the fourth-longest home winning streak in America.

The Cardinals (5-8, 0-2) fell to 0-3 in true road games, and are now 0-9 all-time at “The Jack,” and 2-18 against the Wahoos since joining the conference.

“What I liked today is there was just a real good commitment to be who we are defensively — jam the lane, try to get to shooters, rebound better, and it didn’t vary,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said after his team bounced back from a 22-point loss at Notre Dame over the weekend.

Offensively, although it took him a little while to get cooking, Isaac McKneely broke out of his scoring slump and eventually led all scorers with 18 points, pouring in 13 of them in the second half.

McKneely, who was 7 for 11 from the field Wednesday, sank 4 of his 7 attempts from 3-point land after making just 3 of his previous 14 from downtown across the last three games.

“When you have a few games like that where you’re not shooting it too well, a game like this where you bounce back and shoot it well definitely helps for the confidence,” McKneely said of his outing. “Moving forward, I think it will help, for sure.”

Fellow second-year star Ryan Dunn added a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with 3 blocks, an assist and a steal. Dunn missed just 1 of his 8 field-goal tries on the night.

Veteran floor general Reece Beekman turned in yet another solid performance on both ends of the floor, finishing with 11 points to go with 8 assists and 3 steals — both game-highs.

Senior reserve Taine Murray had arguably one of his best games in a Wahoo uniform, as he chipped in 12 points, 2 assists and a steal in 19 minutes off the bench. The New Zealand native connected on 5 of his 6 attempts, including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc, while also finding nifty ways to finish at the rim.

Jacob Groves didn’t have his best shooting night (2 of 8, 1 for 5 from deep), but made an impact on the boards with 9 rebounds (3 offensive), as UVA outrebounded the Cardinals by a 34-27 count.

Virginia used a 10-2 run — highlighted by long bombs from McKneely and Andrew Rohde — to turn a one-possession contest into a double-digit advantage, 24-14, on a Dunn putback as the clock went under seven minutes in the first half.

After the Cardinals trimmed it back down to six, 26-20, the Hoos turned up the defense and closed the half on an 11-2 run over the final three minutes and change, and took a 15-point lead into the break.

During the flurry, Beekman scored on a tough basket in traffic, then buried a triple on the next trip down before intercepting a Louisville pass and feeding Dunn for an alley-oop jam with 41 seconds left. McKneely put on the finishing touches on the half with a buzzer-beating jumper, as the Cavaliers shot 52 percent (16 for 31) across the opening 20 minutes.

Dunn gave Wahoo fans another highlight-reel dunk early in the second half, as Blake Buchanan found him cutting to the hole and fed him in stride, and UL second-year head coach Kenny Payne burned a timeout with 16:25 remaining to refocus his troops, who were trailing, 41-26.

After sinking a 3-ball early in the contest, Murray continued to make the most of his minutes, scoring on a reverse off the glass, and following that up with another strong take to the bucket. Later in the second half, Murray laid in a dime from Beekman in close, then capped off his memorable night with a corner 3 to push the lead to 23 in the final minutes — and did it all with his parents in attendance from abroad.

“I was so happy for Taine,” said Bennett. “He just works and works, and he gave us a good lift and played well, and his physicality and his toughness was good.”

UVA shot at a 52-percent clip (30 for 58) for the game, 39 percent from long distance (10 for 26) and 70 percent from the charity stripe (7 for 10). The Hoos assisted on 20 of the 30 made field goals while turning the ball over just 3 times — a season-low. Virginia scored 11 points off of Louisville’s 8 giveaways.

The Cards — who were without the services of double-figure scorers Tre White (12.7 ppg) and JJ Traynor (10.1 ppg) — shot 40 percent from the field (19 for 47) and 24 percent from 3-point territory (6 for 25). Curtis Williams scored a team-best 14 points (4 triples) off the bench, while Mike James added 11 and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield had 9.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia (11-3, 2-1 ACC) has won 19 straight games at John Paul Jones Arena
• UVA is 9-0 mark at JPJ in 2023-24
• The Cavaliers have held 44 consecutive ACC opponents to fewer than 70 points at JPJ
• UVA went on a 12-0 run to gain a 35-20 lead
• The Cavaliers shot 51.6 percent (16 of 31) en route to a 38-22 halftime lead
• Virginia is 164-11 all-time when scoring 70 or more points under Tony Bennett
• UVA is 7-0 when scoring 70 or more points in 2023-24
• UVA forced one shot clock violation (10 total)
• UVA had a season-low three turnovers

Series Notes

• Virginia is 23-5 all-time vs. Louisville in a series that dates to 1923-24
• UVA has an eight-game win streak vs. Louisville
• UVA has won 17 of the last 18 meetings
• The Cavaliers are 11-1 vs. the Cardinals in Charlottesville, including a 9-0 mark at JPJ
• UVA is 18-2 vs. Louisville since the Cardinals joined the ACC

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Isaac McKneely (18), Ryan Dunn (15), Taine Murray (12), Reece Beekman (11)
• McKneely reached double figures for the 13th time
• Dunn matched a career high with 15 points
• Dunn added 10 rebounds for his third career double-double
• Dunn reached double figures for the ninth time
• Murray reached double figures for the second time
• Beekman reached double figures for the 41st time
• Beekman (8 assists) passed the 500 career assist mark (504 career assists)
• Dante Harris missed his eighth-straight game with an ankle injury

UP NEXT

Virginia hits the road for a 2-p.m. tipoff in Raleigh Saturday against NC State (ACC Network). It will be the first of two meetings with the Wolfpack in a matter of 18 days, with a rematch at JPJ on Jan. 24.