LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) —They say this is a “new” Virginia. Sleeker. Faster. More points, less plod. Supposedly, the Cavaliers have traded in their 2012 Buick for a Tesla.
And yet, Tuesday night at the KFC Yum! Center, they still managed to turn a basketball game into a traffic jam. The “new” Virginia plays faster, they say. Averaging 86 points a game. The old molasses in the halfcourt is long gone.
Right.
Watching Virginia is still like watching a documentary on drying cement. Only this cement wouldn’t let you make a clean cut if its life depended on it.
Truth is, the No. 16 Cavaliers are ruthlessly efficient, defensively demonic, and when they’re dropping threes like bread crumbs — as they were against Louisville — they’re a nightmare with a shot clock.
Louisville blinked and was down 14-0. It took 11 and a half minutes to reach double figures, You could’ve written a term paper in that time. And yet, with Khani Rooths out (flu) and Ryan Conwell just returning, a slugfest wasn’t the worst thing. Louisville played trench-defense in the first half, trailed by just five at the break, and pulled within four in the second.
But then Virginia did what Virginia does. A 7-0 run. Then an 8-0 run. Nothing flashy. Just surgical. Death by paper cut.
Final: Virginia 79, Louisville 70.
The difference? Pick a number. Virginia made 14 threes. They outscored Louisville 23-12 at the free-throw line. They owned the glass like a window-cleaning monopoly, 44-36, but four of those came on Louisville's final possession, where it missed five shots. The Cards gave up 1.2 points per possession, the exact average they’ve allowed in every meeting against a ranked team this season.
Still, Louisville didn’t back down. Despite nine Cavalier blocks, the Cards outscored them 26-12 in the paint. Isaac McKinley dropped 23 on his old team, including 5 of 14 from deep. Conwell added 14 with three triples. J’Vonne Hadley had 11, and Aly Khalifa (who also made a three) chipped in nine.
But to get over the top in this one, Louisville needed a big game from Rooths, who was sick, or for Kasean Pryor to be his old self, which he is not.
The team felt sluggish, and afterward Conwell sounded somber.
"I've just got to be better," Conwell said. "This team needs me. Not even the makes and the misses. They're gonna happen. But just my poise, just being there for my brothers, I just got to, overall, just be a better leader. I'm really disappointed how I'm playing."
Louisville never led. Missed its final five shots. Shot 35.8% for the game. Virginia? They shot 55% in the second half, missed only nine shots after halftime, and hit 7 of 13 threes for good measure.
Malik Thomas led three Virginia players in double figures with 19.
You can’t say Louisville played badly, thought its defense in the second half was suspect. You can’t help but wonder if Louisville just isn’t built to win this kind of game, at least not when the three-pointers aren’t falling at a decent clip.
They weren’t on Tuesday, and the Cards now have lost for the third time in four games and the fourth time in seven, since Mikel Brown went to the sidelines with a back issue.
That sample – and it didn’t take a sample this large – tells you this is not the same team without him. But these last four games, perhaps, tell you, it’s not going to be the close to the team it was with him.
The effort was there. The result was not.
The Cardinals fall to 12-5 overall, 2-3 in the ACC.
Next stop: At Pittsburgh on Saturday. Bring your hard hat.
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