Louisville Downs Virginia 81-67
By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In men’s basketball, Virginia has seen enough of the Louisville Cardinals for a while.
Two weeks after routing the Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena, Louisville defeated them again Saturday afternoon, this time at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals stretched their winning streak to eight games with an 81-67 victory.
The ACC’s hottest team, Louisville (14-5, 7-1) is tied for second in the league. The Wahoos (8-10, 1-6), meanwhile, have lost five games in a row for the first time since the 2009-10 season, and they’re near the bottom of the ACC standings.
Their rematch with Louisville was always going to be a daunting assignment for the Hoos. The Cards are deep, athletic and talented, and virtually everyone in the crowd of 18,233 was pulling for them Saturday.
The home fans had plenty to cheer. The Cardinals, who are in their first season under head coach Pat Kelsey, never trailed in an arena where UVA has celebrated several memorable victories.
“They’re playing really good basketball,” Virginia’s interim head coach, Ron Sanchez, said. “The one thing that impresses me most about them is the way they share the ball. I believe the ball has energy, and the more you touch it, the better you feel. I think they have really good synergy, really good energy. They’re cheerleaders of each other. You watch them play, and they’re very happy when a teammate makes a play. Pat has done a fantastic job of, in such a short time, implementing a very positive culture of unity and sharing and just positivity.”
The Cavaliers were coming off a game in which they held high-scoring SMU to 54 points. Nine of those points, however, came in the final 25 seconds as the Mustangs rallied for a 54-52 victory.
“The SMU game was heartbreaking, it really was,” Sanchez said. “I’m first of all proud of the effort that we put forward that day, especially defensively against a team that is really potent offensively. I was hoping that we could repeat that defensive performance today. Unfortunately, we didn’t.”
Four players scored in double figures for Louisville, which outrebounded Virginia 36-30 and totaled 38 points in the paint.
For the Hoos, junior forward Elijah Saunders matched his career high with 10 pounds and scored a team-best 19 points for his second career double-double. Junior guard Isaac McKneely added 10 points, but he was 0 for 4 from 3-point range before hitting a trey with 1:59 to play.
Like most teams Virginia has faced this season, the Cards hounded McKneely and did everything they could to keep him from getting free on the perimeter. Of his four field goals, his first was stepback jumper. The next two were layups on which teammates fed a cutting McKneely.
“I think the shots that we created for him today were what I would call Isaac McNeely shots, shots that he normally makes,” Sanchez said. “Now, he’s also being charged with defending some of the better, more athletic guards in the league, so he’s expending energy on both sides. So I have to find a way to get him some of those easy looks at the rim, some of those layups, get him fouls, so he gets to the free-throw line and makes some plays. But when it comes to matchups, Isaac just has to decide, ‘I gotta own my offensive matchup,’ just like defensively he’s trying to own his defensive matchup.”
The Cavaliers trailed 39-28 and started the second half slowly. The Cardinals stretched their lead to 21 before Virginia rallied. Saunders’ third 3-pointer made it 59-48 with 8:31 to play and put the Hoos in position to make the final minutes interesting. But Louisville answered with a 9-2 run that quelled the Cavaliers’ comeback.
Virginia shot a blistering 65 percent from the floor in the second half. That could have led to a close finish, but the Hoos also turned the ball over 12 times (and missed 6 of 13 free throws) in the final 20 minutes.
“Some of them were mishandles,” Sanchez said. “Some of them were just seeing a play a second too late. Some of them were just trying to do too much. No one makes a mistake on purpose, so I’m never going to think negatively of a player trying to make a play that’s going to help the team. Those aren’t selfish plays. Everything that they’re doing is trying to help this team win. So I’m going to continue to encourage them, maybe make the play a little sooner, maybe make a two-handed pass, maybe fake up and pass down. Just teach them. Teach them through their mistakes.
“We’re going to go back. We’re going to watch the video, and everything that we did well, we’re going to celebrate. Every single thing we did well, we’re going to celebrate. And the things that we did poorly, we’re going to attack in practice.”
On a disappointing afternoon for the Cavaliers, the play of Anthony Robinson was a positive. In 14:13 off the bench, the 6-foot-10, 250-pound redshirt freshman contributed seven points and five rebounds. The minutes played, points and rebounds were all season highs for Robinson.
“Anthony’s a strong, physical athlete,” Sanchez said, “and when he has balance and he’s underneath the rim, he can sky and go get rebounds without needing too much help there … The game is starting to slow down a little bit for him—it’s still a little fast for him—but the beauty in all this is that we have been afforded an opportunity to play him. So he’s getting more minutes, and I think the more he gets, the better he’s going to improve, and I’m excited for his future.”
Robinson, who played nine-plus minutes against SMU, said his “mindset has been just to bring as much energy as possible and do my job to help the team win and just help us play better as a unit. Get a rebound, play on defense and just pretty much be an anchor on defense, bringing energy. Just whatever I can do to help the team win.”
The losing streak hasn’t been fun, but Robinson said he and his teammates are “keeping their heads highs, because we have belief in each other. We’ve been through trial and tribulations already, and it’s building our trust in each other, so everyone’s head is still held high.”
Sophomore center Blake Buchanan (nine points, five rebounds) and freshman guard Ishan Sharma (six points) also made solid contributions off the bench.
“We found guys that had enough energy and juice in the tank to come in and compete hard,” Sanchez said. “That’s the one thing that I do like about it, that we’re creating just more competition for each other within the team. We’re always going to find the guys that are playing hard and are playing with tremendous amount of energy.”
After Buchanan totaled 11 points and a career-best 15 rebounds against SMU, Sanchez said he hoped that game would be a turning point for No. 0. Buchanan turned into another spirited effort Saturday.
“I never question Blake’s effort and his energy,” Sanchez said. “I think a couple of rebounds there, I’m sure that it’s bothering him that he didn’t grab. But the one thing about this group, they always play hard. It doesn’t matter what the scoreboard is, they continue to compete. And when you have guys that are willing to compete, you have more in the tank and opportunities to grow and just continue to improve as you journey.”
UP NEXT
The Cavaliers will play two games at JPJ before hitting the road to face ACC rival Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. UVA hosts Boston College at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Notre Dame at 6:30 p.m. next Saturday.
Virginia is 21-9 all-time against BC. The Hoos have won two straight over the Eagles and six of their past seven meetings.