Tale of the Tape: Virginia vs. Louisville

It all comes down to Saturday for second-ranked Virginia, as the team guns for its fourth ACC regular-season title in the last six years when the Cavaliers host Louisville at 4 p.m. It’ll be an emotional Senior Day for Wahoo big man Jack Salt as John Paul Jones Arena will no doubt be loud and ready to roll.

The ‘Hoos (27-2, 15-2 ACC) have a simple formula for capturing the top seed in next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte — beat Louisville. It’s a feat the Cavaliers have achieved nine out of the 10 times the schools have met as conference rivals.

UVA ranks 1st overall (2nd AdjO, 2nd AdjD) according to KenPom and 2nd in the NET rankings, while Louisville is 21st (16th AdjD, 36th AdjO) and 23rd.

The Cardinals (19-11, 10-7) had dropped three games in a row and five of their last six before picking up a 14-point win last Sunday against Notre Dame, and Chris Mack’s bunch has had all week to get ready for Saturday’s rematch with the ‘Hoos.

When UVA travelled to Louisville two Saturdays ago, the Cards couldn’t miss from long range in the first half and led by 10 at halftime. The Cavaliers outscored then-No. 18 Louisville 21-5 over the final 11:15 and 37-15 in the second half to win by a dozen, 64-52.

Sophomore forward Jordan Nwora does it all for the Cardinals, leading the team in scoring (17.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.7 rpg).

UNC Asheville transfer wing Dwayne Sutton (10.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg), Samford graduate transfer point guard Christen Cunningham (10.1 ppg, 5.0 apg), UConn transfer center Steven Enoch (9.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Richmond transfer guard Khwan Fore (3.4 ppg, 1.4 rpg) round out the likely starters.

Reserve guard Ryan McMahon got off to a hot start at the Yum! Center two weeks ago, nailing all four of his attempts from beyond the arc prior to halftime. Virginia held him to an 0-for-3 performance from deep in the second half.

The ‘Hoos only knocked down two triples of their own at Louisville, but exploded for a school-record 18 treys at Syracuse Monday night. Wahoo Nation hopes that hot shooting continues for a few more weeks.