Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Virginia Tech Hokies

The Cardinals host the Hokies for a rematch in their penultimate game of the 2023-24 regular season.

Virginia Tech (16-13, 8-10 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (8-21, 3-15 ACC)

- Tipoff: Tuesday, March 5 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 Tech -8.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 36-11
- Last Meeting: Virginia Tech won 75-68 on Dec. 3, 2023 (Cassell Coliseum - Blacksburg, Va.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• G Skyy Clark (6-3, 205, So.)
• G Tre White (6-7, 205, So.)
• G/F Mike James (6-5, 200, R-So.)
• F Kaleb Glenn (6-6, 205, Fr.)
• F Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10, 240, Jr.)

Virgina Tech

• G Sean Pedulla (6-1, 195, Jr.)
• G Hunter Cattoor (6-3, 200, Gr.)
• G M.J. Collins (6-4, 195, So.)
• F Robbie Beran (6-9, 215, Gr.)
• C Lynn Kidd (6-10, 235, Sr.)

Comparison

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

Game Notes

Louisville

• Last time out: Louisville's comeback attempt against Syracuse fell short, suffering an 82-76 defeat for their fifth-straight loss.
• KEY FIRST HALF RUN: The first five minutes of action saw four lead changes and two ties before Syracuse took the lead with a 15-4 run, flipping the script from a two-point Louisville lead to a ninepoint Orange advantage. Syracuse led 39-28 at halftime after finishing the half on a 10-2 run.
• KEY SECOND HALF RUN: Syracuse scored 12 unanswered points to take a 17-point lead with just under 10 minutes to go. Down 19, the Cards went on 10-0 run that elapsed 2:22 to cut the Orange’s lead down to nine points. Louisville battled in the final minutes of regulation and came within as few as five points but were unable to complete the rally.
• UofL shot 28 of 64 (43.8%) from the field, 4 of 19 (21.1%) from 3-point range and 16 of 20 (80.0%) from the free-throw line.
• Louisville had four players in double-figures including Mike James (18), Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (17), Kaleb Glenn (15) and Tre White (12).
• Louisville outscored Syracuse in the paint 44-32.
• Brandon Huntley-Hatfield recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 boards on the night. He also logged a block and an assist in 35 minutes.
• Mike James led the Cardinals in scoring with 18 points on 7 of 15 shooting. He also added eight boards, one block and one steal in 37 minutes.
• Tre White filled his stat line with 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals in 37 minutes.
• Kaleb Glenn joined in the double-figure scoring with 15 points. He also added three rebounds, one block and one steal in 18 minutes of work.
• This is the first time Louisville has finished the regular season with at least three straight home games since 1992-93. The Cardinals haven’t had two straight home games to end the regular season since 2014-15.
• Over the last eight games, junior forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield is averaging 17.1 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 58.4% from the field (52 of 89). He has eight double-doubles this season after recording just two double-doubles in the first 68 games of his career.
• Guard Ty-Laur Johnson’s 104 assists are tied for the fourth-most ever by a Louisville freshman. He’s tied with current team Video Coordinator Reece Gaines (1999-00) and trails only LaBradford Smith (156, 1987-88), Jason Osborne (141, 1993-94) – the father of senior forward JJ Traynor – and DeJuan Wheat (109, 1993-94). Over the last eight games, he’s averaging 11.3 points, 5.7 assists and 2.0 steals per outing.
• Freshman forward Kaleb Glenn is averaging 9.7 points and 5.0 rebounds over the last six games, with three outings of at least 15 points in that span. Glenn has scored 58 total points over the last six games after scoring 53 points across the season’s first 23 games.
• UofL was one of two teams in the nation, along with New Mexico, with five different players who have scored at least 26 points in a game this season – Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (29), Tre White (29), Skyy Clark (29), Ty-Laur Johnson (27) and Mike James (26).
  

Virginia Tech

• Virginia Tech carries a threegame winning streak in the series into Tuesday’s clash with the Cardinals.
• The Hokies defeated Louisville, 75-68, in this season’s first meeting, which was the ACC opener for both squads on Dec. 3.
• The last time these two teams met in Louisville, VT snapped a nine-game losing skid to the Cards on the road en route to a 71-54 victory. It was the largest margin of victory by the Hokies at Louisville since a 20-point win (81-61) on Jan. 30, 1985.
• MJ Collins erupted for a career-high 20 points on 5 for 10 shooting in leading Virginia Tech to a 75-68 win in its ACC opener on Dec. 3. The sophomore guard from Clover, S.C., knocked all three of his attempts from downtown and went 7 for 7 from the foul line in the winning effort. He also distributed four assists.
• Lynn Kidd chipped in 19 points, while Hunter Cattoor added 12.
• Tech shot 48% (12-25) in the second stanza to erase a 31-30 halftime deficit.
• Skyy Clark led five Cardinals in double figures with 16 points
• The Hokies erupted for 50 points on 63.3% shooting (19-30) in the second half to erase a 15-point deficit and dispatch Wake Forest, 87-76.
• It was the largest comeback victory of the Mike Young era and the second time this season Tech overcame a double-digit deficit to win (12 vs. Boise State).
• It was the largest comeback overall since Nov. 12, 2013 vs. West Virginia – 17 points with 8:21 to go in the 1H.
• In ACC games alone, Hunter Cattoor leads the league in offensive rating (133.7) and is second in effective field-goal percentage (66.2%) per KenPom. He led the ACC in eFG% last season at 63.4% in league play.
• For the second straight season, the Hokies have at least one player in the top two of the ACC in points per game improvement from the prior season. Sean Pedulla ranked second in the ACC in 2022-23 in points per game improvement (+9.6). This season, Lynn Kidd and Tyler Nickel rank first and third, respectively, in that category.
• Pedulla ranks ninth among ACC players in conference-only scoring. He averages 16.8 points per game in ACC play.
• Tech hit 11 3-pointers vs. Florida State on Feb. 13, marking the 12th time this season it has reached double-digit threes. The Hokies are 8-4 this season when knocking down at least 10 triples in a game.
• Over the last six seasons, only one Mike Young team has ranked outside the top 65 in the nation for turnovers per game – this one.
• Hunter Cattoor surpassed A.D. Vassallo for the most 3-pointers made in a career in program history against Boise State on Nov. 23. The record came in Cattoor’s hometown of Orlando and was achieved in nine fewer games than Vassallo
• Mike Young is in his fifth season in Blacksburg and is tied for seventh in all-time wins at VT.
• According to the KenPom rankings, Tech played the second-toughest non-conference schedule since the service began keeping the metric.

(Photo of Brandon Huntley-Hatfield: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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