The Plus/Minus: Virginia Knocks Off No. 20 Louisville 73-68
Virginia women's basketball earned a marquee road victory on Sunday afternoon, taking down No. 20 Louisville 73-68 at the KFC Yum! Center. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what we saw as the Cavaliers picked up their fourth win in the last five games and third-consecutive road victory.
Plus
A win is a win is a win. Virginia got out to a strong start leading 16 – 15 at the end of the first quarter and 32-26 at halftime. Virginia could have crumbled after getting outscored by Louisville 28-15 in the third, but the Cavaliers flipped the script on the Cardinals by going 26-14 in the fourth for the win.
Plus
Camryn Taylor set the tone early as she scored seven of Virginia’s first 16 points. She was strong down the stretch with nine points and three rebounds in the final frame. She finished with a game-high 22 points in 25 minutes. On her day, Taylor is the best post scorer in the ACC this side of Virginia Tech’s Liz Kitley. There is nobody in the conference who plays with this much aggression:
Minus
Why, you might ask, did Taylor log only 25 minutes? Because she got herself in foul trouble early. Her first foul, she was driving to the basket and had a defender – that she had beaten – when she lowered her shoulder and crashed into said defender. Foul #1. Taylor’s second transgression came four minutes later when she was called over the back of Louisville’s Olivia Cochran going for a rebound. Cochran is one of the ACC’s bigger players. She had position. And Taylor stupidly went for the ball. Taylor has now played 122 games; she ought to know better by now. With Taylor sitting, Louisville went on an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the game. With Taylor on the floor, this team is a threat to anyone. Without Taylor? Not so much.
Plus
After a slow start to the game – just 5 points in the first half – Mo Johnson rebounded with a stellar fourth quarter. Mo had 8 points in the fourth, including a big 3 and she converted 3/4 from the charity stripe.
Plus
At one point this season, Jillian Brown was shooting 12% from deep. And no, that’s not a typo. Her stroke has always looked good, though, and over the last three games Brown has gone 6/9 from beyond the arc, including 3/5 at the KFC Yum! Center. Both of these were in transition which is important because the team’s spacing in transition and on the break is nonexistent.
These two treys, plus an offensive rebound and putback (Total: 8 points) were the backbone of a 14-2 run the middle of the second quarter that might have been the most effective 3.5 minutes the Hoos have played all year.
Brown scored in double figures for the second straight game and she’s solidified her role as first wing-off-the-bench in light of Olivia McGhee’s struggles. Johnson showed this game that she’ll get her points, even following a slow start. If Taylor can play a full game, she’ll be the force down low. Brown’s growth the past three games gives Virginia a double-digit scorer off the bench.
Minus
The Hoos outrebounded the Cardinals, especially on the offensive end. It is one of Virginia’s core strengths. But even with a 17-12 advantage in offensive boards, Louisville was more productive with their offensive boards to the tune of a 19-12 advantage in second chance points. Down the stretch, Virginia is not doing as good a job converting those second chance opportunities into points.
Plus
Despite a poor job shooting free throws overall – 12/18 or 67% -- the fourth quarter was better. Sam Brunelle, Paris Clark and Mo Johnstone combined to go 7/8 from the line down the stretch to ice the win.
Plus
Always fun to beat a Jeff-Walz coached team. He is the whiniest coach in the ACC and he even does the Buzz Williams dance when he perceives that the refs have wronged his team. He uses the transfer portal better than anyone in the ACC, but after looking at him tearing into some of his players, I can see why Hailey Van Lith left Louisville after claiming it wasn’t fun to play there.
Plus
With this win – the first by an unranked opponent in KFC Yum! Center history – Virginia improves to 6-10 in the ACC. The Cavaliers are now 2 games better than last season, and there are two more to play. In the race for 9th place (and a bye in the ACC tournament) Georgia Tech was knocked off by Wake Forest. And although Miami struggled with Clemson, the Hurricanes prevailed. Virginia sits 10th with two games left to play.
Next Up: And the next game is a doozy as Virginia travels to Durham to take on Duke on Thursday, February 29th. Duke’s last five games have been as tough as any stretch the Cavaliers have had, but last outing, Duke held Dyaisha Fair (who blitzed Virginia for 33 points) to a 7/25 shooting night. Duke places basketball that would make Tony Bennett proud. It will be a dogfight. Game time is 7:00pm and the game is on the ACC Network.
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