Tale of the Tape: Virginia vs. Louisville

Third-ranked Virginia visits the KFC Yum! Center at Noon to take on No. 18 Louisville, a team the Cavaliers will see twice in a matter of two weeks. UVA will host the Cardinals in the regular-season finale on Mar. 9.

Virginia has dominated the series since Louisville became an Atlantic Coast Conference member in 2014-15, taking eight of the nine matchups between the two schools. UVA is 3-1 at the Yum! Center, dropping its first game there in 2015, 59-57, and winning each of the three since.

The Wahoos have moved from third back up to the top overall spot in the KenPom ratings (3rd AdjD, 4th AdjO), and jumped up to second behind only Gonzaga in the NET rankings.

Louisville checks in at 19th according to both KenPom (21st AdjD, 26th AdjO) and the NET rankings. UL fell two spots in both polls last week, dropping from No. 16 to 18 in the AP and from No. 20 to 22.

The Cardinals, who are coming off of a 69-49 loss at Syracuse on Wednesday, have lost three of their last four contests, and four of the last six, after winning six straight and climbing as high as No. 15 in the country. Louisville entered the season unranked under first-year coach Chris Mack, the former head man at Xavier.

Sophomore forward Jordan Nwora leads the Cardinals in several categories — scoring, rebounds, shooting percentage, 3-point shooting and steals, just to name a few.

Dwayne Sutton (a junior transfer from UNC Asheville) and Christen Cunningham (a grad transfer from Samford) each average just over 10 points a game, while another pair of transfers, 6-foot-10 center Steven Enoch (UConn) and guard Khwan Fore (Richmond) round out the probable starting five.

Ryan McMahon is a talented perimeter scorer off the bench. Darius Perry, VJ King and Malik Williams will also likely get some reserve minutes.

After Saturday’s contest, the ‘Hoos will close out the regular season with three of the last four at John Paul Jones Arena. Next week, Georgia Tech comes calling on Wednesday before last-place Pittsburgh, a team that has lost 10 straight, visits Saturday.