Strong Second Half Lifts ‘Hoos Past Cardinals

After trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half, No. 3 Virginia stormed back in the second and walked out of Louisville with a 64-52 win Saturday behind a career day from De’Andre Hunter.

The Cavaliers (24-2, 12-2 ACC) outscored the 18th-ranked Cardinals 21-5 over the final 11:15 and 37-15 in the second half after falling behind by 10 at the break.

Hunter scored 19 of his career-high 26 points in the second half, while Mamadi Diakite and Jay Huff each provided a huge lift off the bench as the Cavaliers won their eighth straight over Louisville (18-10, 9-6).

UVA made just two 3-pointers on the day — both by Hunter, both after halftime — after shooting 0 for 11 from deep over the opening 20 minutes. Louisville, on the other hand, was scorching hot from long range to start, connecting on 10 of its 16 attempts in the first half, while making just 1 of 9 from inside the arc.

Jordan Nwora punctuated things with a bank shot from almost halfcourt to beat the first-half buzzer and give the Cards a 37-27 halftime lead.

After a Malik Williams basket fell in the opening minute of the second half, UVA started chipping away, making four of its first five shots out of the break.

Hunter hit the first Wahoo 3 of the day and then deflected a Cardinal pass on the other end, which led to his old-fashioned 3-point play. Huff then jammed one home off a screen-and-roll from Kihei Clark to tie it up at 41-41 with 14:16 remaining.

A Steven Enoch triple pushed Louisville’s lead back to four, 47-43, with 11:36 to go, and it was all ‘Hoos from there.

Kyle Guy drove the lane to give the Cavaliers their first lead of the game, 49-47, at the 8:45 mark and then UL coach Chris Mack was T’d up after arguing a call where Nwora picked up a charge when it looked as though Diakite’s heel was in the restricted area.

“It’s a big call. Hindsight’s 20/20,” said Mack afterwards. “Leading up to that, we were having a tough time scoring, so it’s nice that we got a bucket on an interior play where there’s contact. Official saw it one way, obviously we see it another.”

Hunter sank the free throws, then later knocked down a long 2 and another 3 from the same spot to set his new career scoring mark, giving his team a 58-50 advantage with five minutes to play.

Louisville went over five minutes without a field goal, missing 10 straight at one point and 1 of 16 until Christen Cunningham finally got one to fall with 48 seconds left to cut it to 10.

“We knew, and should know, that you’re going to have some droughts when you play against Virginia,” said Mack. “Their defense is as good as anybody in the country. When we had those droughts in the first half, we didn’t let it affect us at all. In the second half… we did.”

Diakite, sporting a new bleached-blonde hairdo, put home the exclamation point on a feed from Clark for the final result.

The Cardinals finished the game shooting just 31 percent (17 for 55) on the afternoon after a 44-percent effort in the first half (11 of 25). Louisville was just 2 for 17 from deep in the second half.

Nwora led UL with 17 points. Ryan McMahon scored all 12 of his points in the first half, going 4 for 4 from 3-point range. He was 0 for 3 after halftime.

The ‘Hoos shot 46 percent (26 of 56) and 12 percent (2 of 17) from long distance, dominating the rebound battle 39-28. Each side committed 5 turnovers. Virginia outscored Louisville 38-4 in the paint.

Hunter was 9 for 11 from the field (2 for 2 from deep), adding 4 rebounds, 2 steals and a block. In 31 minutes off the bench, Diakite had 14 points and 5 boards and 3 blocks on 7-of-10 shooting, while Huff added 12 points (6 for 8 FG), 7 rebounds and a pair of blocks in just 17 minutes.

Guy’s 25-game streak with at least one 3-pointer came to an end as he missed all five attempts from deep, but wound up with 8 points, a team-best, career high-tying 8 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Ty Jerome also had an off night, scoring 4 points on 2-of-12 shooting. He was 0 for 6 from long range, but added 4 rebounds and 5 assists.

Virginia hosts Georgia Tech Wednesday night at 7 on ESPN2.