MBB: Louisville completes first ACC sweep of Virginia with 81-67 win

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia is still searching for its first win of the calendar year after suffering a lopsided 81-67 loss at Louisville on Saturday.

With the victory, the Cardinals (14-5, 7-1 ACC) swept the series with UVA for the first time since joining the conference in the 2014-15 season, after winning by a 70-50 margin in Charlottesville two weeks ago. It was the team’s eighth-straight win overall.

The Cavaliers (8-10, 1-6), meanwhile, are now in the middle of a five-game losing streak, and it was UVA’s first loss at the KFC Yum! Center since the 2019-20 campaign. The five-game skid is the program’s longest since Tony Bennett’s first season in 2009-10, when the Wahoos dropped their final nine games of the regular season.

The Cardinals built a double-digit lead midway through Saturday’s first half and maintained a comfortable advantage from that point on, leading by as many as 15 points in the opening frame. The lead ballooned to 21 after halftime before a late UVA flurry in garbage time helped the Hoos cover the spread, which was 16.5 points.

Junior forward Elijah Saunders was essentially a one-man offensive crew for the majority of the afternoon, finishing with a double-double (19 points and 10 rebounds, both game highs).

Isaac McKneely was the only other teammate to reach double figures with his 10-point outing on 4-of-9 shooting (1 for 5 from deep). Blake Buchanan added another solid performance off the bench with 9 points, 5 rebounds and a block across 20 minutes.

A Buchanan dunk in the opening minute of the second half made it 41-30, but Virginia went seven minutes and 14 seconds without a field goal until an Ishan Sharma 3-pointer fell through with 12:04 remaining to end a 12-2 Cardinal run. Sharma followed with another 3-ball, and then Anthony Robinson flushed one home to pull the Hoos back within 13, 55-42, capping a 10-2 UVA spurt.

Saunders buried a trifecta with 8:31 to play to cut it to 11 points, but that’s as close as the Cavaliers would get, as the home team pushed its lead back over 20 by the 4:53 mark.

Virginia actually shot the ball better from the field (24 for 51; 47 percent to Louisville’s 43) and from downtown (8 of 21; 38 percent to 26), but missed eight free throws (11 of 19; 58 percent), lost the rebounding battle (36-30), and saw 15 turnovers lead to 20 Cardinal points.

Reyne Smith led the way for Louisville with 19 points (4 triples), while Terrence Edwards Jr. added 16 points and 6 rebounds. J’vonne Hadley (13 points) and James Scott (12 points, 10 rebounds) also registered double digits, while Chucky Hepburn chipped in 8 points and a game-high 8 assists.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia fell to 8-10 overall, 1-6 ACC
• Virginia is 1-7 away from home and 0-5 in true road contests.
• UVA’s 1-6 start in the ACC is its worst since starting 1-10 in 2007-08
• UVA has lost five consecutive games for the first time since 2010 when the Cavaliers suffered a nine-game ACC losing streak from Feb. 6 to March 6 (Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Florida State, Clemson, Miami, No. 5 Duke, Boston College and No. 22 Maryland).
• UVA is 10-3 all-time at KFC Yum! Center, including an 8-3 mark vs. Louisville
• Louisville led 39-28 at halftime
• UVA has trailed at the half in each of its seven ACC contests
• UVA has allowed 80 or more points in four games, most since 2008-09 (8 times)
• UVA’s 7-0 run cut the Louisville margin to 55-42 at 10:29 of the second half

Series Notes

• Virginia is 24-7 all-time vs. Louisville in a series that dates to 1923-24
• Louisville swept the season series 2-0
• The Cavaliers are 11-5 vs. the Cardinals in Louisville
• UVA is 19-4 vs. Louisville since the Cardinals joined the ACC

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Elijah Saunders (19), Isaac McKneely (10)
• Saunders matched a career best with 10 rebounds for his second career double-double
• Saunders reached double figures for the 11th time (18 career)
• Saunders matched a season high with three 3-pointers
• McKneely reached double figures for the 13th time (39 career)
• Anthony Robinson (7 points, 5 rebounds) played a season-high 14 minutes
• Ishan Sharma (2 3-pointers) has made two or more 3-pointers in seven games

UP NEXT

Virginia returns to John Paul Jones Arena for 7-p.m. tipoff against Boston College on Tuesday (ACC Network).