Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Virginia Cavaliers

Virginia Cavaliers (19-4, 11-3 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (3-22, 1-13 ACC)

- Tipoff: Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ESPNU
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Virginia: -16.0 (KenPom)
- All-Time Series: Virginia leads 20-5
- Last Meeting: Virginia won 51-50 on Mar. 9, 2022 (ACC Tournament, Barclay's Center - Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

G El Ellis (6-3, 180, Sr.)
G/F Mike James (6-5, 215, R-Fr.)
F J.J. Traynor (6-8, 190, Jr.)
F Jae'Lyn Withers (6-9, 220, R-Jr.)
F Sydney Curry (6-8, 270, Sr.)

Virginia

G Kihei Clark (5-10, 167, Gr.)
G Reece Beekman (6-3, 190, Jr.)
G Armaan Franklin (6-4, 200, Sr.)
F Jayden Gardner (6-6, 233, 5th)
F Ben Vander Plas (6-8, 236, Gr.)

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Cavaliers, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. Virginia

Game Notes

Louisville

Last game: Louisville narrowly fell 93-85 in a rematch with No. 19 Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.
KEY FIRST HALF RUN: The Hurricanes came out strong taking an early 10-0 lead with just under four minutes into the game. The Cards had a 13-2 run starting with a second-chance dunk by JJ Traynor at 7:07. The run lasted just over two minutes to give Louisville the 36-33 lead. Miami tied the game 38-38 with 1:10 left in the half before taking the one-point lead at 42-41 heading into the locker room. El Ellis led both teams with 17 points in the first half.
KEY SECOND HALF RUN: The Hurricanes went up 60-49 with nine straight points. The Cardinals answered back by hitting six straight field goals, three from Ellis, to bring it within five at 67-62. The Cards got within 74-70 with less than five minutes left on two free throws by Ellis, but Miami scored the next five points.
UofL shot 33 of 57 (.579) from the field, 10 of 23 (.435) from 3-point range, and 9 of 11 (.818) from the free-throw line. The Cardinals outscored the Hurricanes in the paint 33-31, marking the fifth time this season outscoring their opponent in the paint. Louisville outscored Miami from the three-point line 10-8 and shot 43.5% from behind the arc. This is the ninth time this season the Cardinals outscored their opponent from behind the arc. The Cardinals shot 57.9% from the paint, the best field goal percentage all season. This was the fifth game this season the Cards have shot 50% or better from the paint.
El Ellis set a new career high in points with 33, shooting 12 of 20 (60%) from the field, 3 of 8 (37.5%) from behind the arc, and 6 of 6 (100%) from the free throw line. Ellis has not missed a free throw since the game against Georgia Tech on Feb. 1. Ellis’ 33 points were the most by a Cardinal since Jordan Nwora scored 37 at Boston College on Jan. 27, 2020. Ellis is the first Cardinal to have at least 33 points and five assists in a game since Darrell Griffith against Iowa in the 1980 Final Four. The guard had a team-high five assists and added two rebounds playing for 37 minutes. In the first half, Ellis had 17 points shooting 7 of 10 (70%) from the field and 3 of 5 (60%) from the three-point line. Ellis tied his career high for fields goals made (12) and his season high for field goal attempts (20).
Jae'Lyn Withers ended the game with 18 points, one point shy of a season high. He shot 7 of 10 (70%) from field goal range and 4 of 6 (66.7%) from the 3-point line. Withers has shot 50% or better from behind the arc in five of the last six games. The forward had a team-high five rebounds and added one assist, one block, and one steal to the stat sheet through 38 minutes of play. In conference play, Withers is 29 of 57 from 3-point range (50.9%).
Kamari Lands recorded 13 points, his third game in the last four with double-digit points. He shot 5 of 7 (71.4%) from field goal range and 3 of 4 (75%) from behind the arc. This was his eight game this season shooting 50% or better from field goal range and his third in the last four. The forward added two rebounds, one assist, and one steal to the stat line.
Emmanuel Okorafor recorded four points, shooting 2 of 3 from field goal range, and had three rebounds through 19 minutes of play. Okorafor has scored in every game he has played in after coming to the lineup midway through the season.
The Cards are in the midst of an eight-game stretch to end the regular season that will see them play seven games vs. teams in the top 80 of the NET Rankings. Their five opponents from Pitt to Duke have an average NET Ranking of 41.
Over the last 16 games, senior guard El Ellis has averaged 18.5 points, 5.5 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals. As of Sunday, Ellis was one of 18 players in the nation with at least 435 points and 115 assists this season. After having a positive or even assist-to-turnover ratio just three times in the first nine games of the season, Ellis has been positive or even in 14 of the last 16 games. In his last 11 games since 2023 began, he has 61 assists against just 34 turnovers.
In his last six games, redshirt junior forward Jae’Lyn Withers is averaging 14.3 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field, 59% from 3-point range (17 of 29) and 79% from the free-throw line. Among players with at least 1.5 made 3s per game, Withers leads the ACC in conference play in 3-point shooting at 51%.
Over the last 11 games since turning to 2023, redshirt freshman guard/forward Mike James is averaging 12.4 points and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 45% from the field and 41% from the 3-point line. In the first 14 games of the year, James averaged just 6.9 points while shooting 44% overall and 31% from 3-point range.
In the last five games coming off the bench, freshman forward Kamari Lands is averaging 10.4 points per game while shooting 59% from the field (17 of 29) and 56% from 3-point range (10 of 18). He’s also 8 of 8 from the free-throw line during that stretch, improving him to 94% (43 of 46) from the stripe for the season.

Virginia

Last time out: then No. 8 Virginia (19-4, 11-3 ACC) made a clutch defensive stop at the end of regulation, and outscored Duke 11-4 in overtime to complete a 69-62 comeback win over the Blue Devils (17-8, 8-6 ACC) on Feb. 11 at John Paul Jones Arena.
The Cavaliers have won 11 or more ACC games for the 11 consecutive season.
UVA is 7-3 away from home, including a 5-3 true road record.
Virginia has a five-game win streak vs. Louisville.
Kihei Clark needs one win to become the ACC’s all-time winningest player (ACC regular season and tournament games).
UVA ranks first nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.79), fourth in turnovers per game (9.1), 10th in scoring defense (60.4 ppg), 18th in assists per game (16.3), 22nd in fouls per game (14.2), 24th in turnover margin (3.7), 25th in 3-point percentage (37.7%) and 36th in scoring margin (9.5).
UVA returned all five starters from last season’s team, which finished 21-14, 12-8 ACC (sixth) and advanced to the NIT.
We play defense, take quality shots, pass the basketball, limit turnovers and transition points, rebound and play more defense.
The Cavaliers return 91.4 percent of its scoring from last season, most among all NCAA Division I teams.
Kihei Clark (11.6 ppg, 5.9 apg), Reece Beekman (10 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 5.1 apg), Jayden Gardner (11.3 ppg, 5 rpg), Armaan Franklin (12.7 ppg, 40.3% 3FG) and Ben Vander Plas (7.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg) have started the past eight games.
Isaac McKneely (6.6 ppg, 42.2% 3FG), Ryan Dunn (2.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.1 bpg), Kadin Shedrick (6.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.4 bpg), Francisco Caffaro (1.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg) and Taine Murray (1.5 ppg) provide depth off the bench.
UVA leads the ACC in scoring defense (60.4), 3-point percentage (38%), assists (16.3 apg), scoring margin (+9.6) and assist/turnover ratio (1.79).
Reece Beekman ranks first in assist/turnover ratio (3.0), third in assists (5.1 apg) and 10th in steals (1.3 spg).
Kihei Clark ranks second in the ACC in assists (6.0 apg), third in assist/turnover ratio (2.9) and 13th in free throw percentage (77.3%).
Kadin Shedrick ranks sixth in blocks (1.4 bpg) and Ryan Dunn ranks 11th (1.1 bpg).
Armaan Franklin ranks 12th in 3-pointers per game (2.1).
Shooting guard Armaan Franklin (26, 25, 23, 21, 20, 20) leads Virginia with six 20-point games, while Jayden Gardner (26, 20), Kihei Clark (20) and Ben Vander Plas (20) have also registered 20-point efforts.
Franklin has led UVA in scoring in nine contests this season and reached 1,000 career points vs. Boston College.
Franklin registered his first career double-double with 25 points and career-best 10 rebounds at Wake Forest.
Gardner has a pair of double-doubles (12 points, 11 rebounds at Michigan and 20 points and 10 rebounds at Virginia Tech).
Gardner scored his 2,000th point vs. NC Central and snared his 1,000th career rebound vs. Syracuse on Jan. 3.
Gardner has registered double figures in scoring in five of the last seven games.
Isaac McKneely matched a career high with four 3-pointers vs. Syracuse and has made at least one 3-pointer in 18 games.
McKneely’s 11-game 3-pointer streak ended vs. Duke.
Vander Plas ended a five-game double figure scoring drought with 13 points and career-high tying four steals vs. Duke.
Beekman is shooting career bests from 3-point range (42.3%) and charity stripe (82.3%).
Ryan Dunn has registered four games with three blocks.
Offensive notes: UVA is averaging 70 points per game, most since averaging 71.4 points in 2018-19. UVA scored 70 or more points in its first six games (11 overall) for the first time since 2003-04 (8 games). UVA scored at least 70 points in six straight games for the first time since December of 2014. UVA is shooting 45.9 percent from the field, including 37.7 percent from 3-point range and 70.8 percent free throws. UVA’s 37.7 percent 3-point percentage is its best since shooting 39.5 percent in 2018-19. UVA shot 44.9 percent from the field, including 32.3 percent from 3-point range, last season.
Defensive notes: UVA ranks 10th nationally in scoring defense at 60.4 ppg. The Cavaliers ranked eighth nationally in scoring defense in 2021-22 at 60.1 ppg. UVA has limited its opponents to 41.4 percent field goal shooting, including 34.2 percent from 3-point range. The Cavaliers have forced 19 shot clock violations and have averaged 28 shot clock violations since 2019. UVA is 10-1 when out-rebounding its opponents. In 2021-22, the Cavaliers limited their opponents to 40.3 percent shooting and 33.6 percent from 3-point range. Bennett-coached teams have led the nation in scoring defense seven times and finished in the top-five nationally 11 times.

(Photo of Jae'Lyn Withers: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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