Virginia hopes to climb out of its funk against Louisville

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Louisville’s players will face in reality everything that Kenny Payne has been preaching to them since day one, when the Cardinals take on Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday night (7 o’clock, ESPN2).

“Good teams that play in the gaps and force you to pass the ball to each other, so it won’t be one pass and a shot … you penetrate with the ball and they’re going to collapse with that ‘Pack-Line’ defense,” Payne said about playing Virginia. He has been trying to use UVA’s defensive style of play to make his team understand a better way.

Meanwhile, Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett, somewhat disenchanted by his own team’s lack of defensive connectedness, is hoping it gets back on track after a bad loss at Notre Dame last Saturday.

Louisville (5-7) has never won at JPJ in eight visits and is currently mired in a 21-game road losing streak. In their last outing on Dec. 21, the Cardinals were soundly beaten by rival Kentucky, 95-76.

Both teams are hoping to mend bad losses in their last outings, and Payne had some keen observations of UVA’s shocking loss in South Bend. The Cavaliers were 9.5-point favorites and lost by 22.

“I saw Notre Dame made a bunch of jump shots … some were contested,” Payne said. “They did a really good job of driving and passing the ball to each other, got a bunch of 3s. It’s hard to evaluate [UVA] by that game because some of those shots that Notre Dame made were tough, tough jump shots.”

At halftime of that game, Notre Dame was shooting 70 percent both from the field and the 3-point arc (7 for 10).

Virginia’s performance in that game, particularly on defense, was “unacceptable,” according to associate head coach Jason Williford on his show with “Locker Room Access” on Tuesday.

Payne knows that beating Virginia in Charlottesville is not an easy task and noted that all three of the Cavaliers’ losses were not at home.

Louisville has been without two of its top players, forward J.J. Traynor and freshman center Dennis Evans, both injured. Payne said he hopes they will be back for the UVA game, but wasn’t sure of their status.

The Cardinals haven’t won a road contest since Jan. 2, 2022, when they stopped Georgia Tech, 67-64, in Atlanta. Payne, in his second season, has felt the heat but was assured by the Louisville AD that his job was safe for the time being.

Meanwhile, the Louisville coach studied UVA’s most recent loss and picked up some pointers on how to combat the ‘Pack-Line’ defense and how to get after the Cavaliers’ top offensive weapons, particularly 3-point shooter Isaac McKneely, who has struggled coming out of the exam and Christmas breaks in action.

“We have to run him off the 3-point line,” Payne said.

Williford, speaking on his show, noted that “we’ve got to figure out how to get cleaner looks for Isaac.”

He also said that UVA’s offense has to loosen up a little. “We have to play loose and free and have fun on the offensive end,” Williford said. “When you get open looks, take ‘em.”

Virginia, a team that hasn’t exhibited a ton of offensive firepower, has found it difficult to comeback from large deficits because there are fewer possessions. In addition, a team without a lot of size or physicality, has been dominated on the boards in all three losses.

Still, the Cavaliers are 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the ACC, and have a chance to get back on track against the Cardinals.

“The sky’s not falling, yet,” Williford said.