Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Virginia Cavaliers

Virginia Cavaliers (8-9, 1-5 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (13-5, 6-1 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, January 18 at 12:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ESPN2
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -13.5
- All-Time Series: Virginia leads 24-6
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 70-50 on Jan. 4, 2025 (Charlottesville, Va.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

G Chucky Hepburn (6-2, 190, Sr.)
G Reyne Smith (6-2, 190, Sr.)
G J'Vonne Hadley (6-6, 215, 5th)
G/F Terrence Edwards Jr. (6-6, 205, 5th)
C James Scott (6-11, 220, So.)

Virginia

G Dai Dai Ames (6-1, 190, So.)
G Isaac McKneely (6-4, 195, Jr.)
G Andrew Rohde (6-6, 200, Jr.)
F Elijah Saunders (6-8, 240, Jr.)
F Jacob Cofie (6-10, 232, Fr.)

Comparison

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

Additional Coverage

Game Notes

Louisville

Four of Louisville’s five losses have all come to teams now ranked in the AP Top 25: No. 3 Duke (15-2), No. 6 Tennessee (16-1), No. 8 Kentucky (14-3), and No. 21 Ole Miss (15-2). As of Jan. 16, those teams, along with [RV] Oklahoma (13-4) are a combined 73-12.
Against North Carolina on Jan. 1, Chucky Hepburn made 16 free throws, tying the program record for free throws made in a single game.
• Louisville played five ranked opponents before the New Year. The Cardinals have the 12th best strength of schedule according to KenPom as of Jan. 9.
As of Jan.16, Louisville is 10th in the country in 3-point attempts per game (30.9).
As of Jan. 16, Chucky Hepburn is 11th in the country in steals per game at 2.50 and eighth in total steals with 45. Reyne Smith is third in the country in total 3-pointers made (64), third in total 3-point attempts (163) and sixth in 3-pointers per game (3.56).
Sophomore forward James Scott is sixth in the country in dunks as of Jan. 16 with 37 makes on the year, according to Bart Torvik. He leads the ACC in that category and is four dunks away from cracking Louisville’s top-15 dunks in a season list.
Sixth year senior Noah Waterman is just 22 points away from scoring 1,000 DI career points. Senior guard Reyne Smith was named ACC Player of the Week on Dec. 23 for his 27-point performance at Florida State. It was just the third time in the program’s 11 years in the ACC that Louisville has had multiple ACC Player of the Week awards as Chucky Hepburn also earned that title on Dec. 2.
Against Florida State on Dec. 21, Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. both logged eight assists apiece; it was the first Louisville game to have two Cardinals log at least eight assists each in the same game since Peyton Siva and Gorgui Deng both had eight against Syracuse in the 2013 Big East Tournament championship game.
Louisville’s 89-61 victory over No. 14/15 Indiana in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis was Louisville’s first win over a ranked team since beating No. 19/20 Virginia Tech 73-71 on Jan. 6, 2021. It’s the highest ranked opponent the Cards havebeat since beating No. 3 Duke 79-73 on Jan. 18, 2020.

Virginia

Virginia meets Louisville for the second time this season. UVA has lost four straight games for the first time since 2016-17 (Virginia Tech, No. 12 Duke, No. 10 UNC and Miami). Blake Buchanan’s 15 rebounds were the most by a UVA player since Mike Tobey’s 20-rebound effort vs. Louisville on March 5, 2016.
LAST TIME OUT: Boopie Miller drilled a game-winning 3-pointer near the buzzer
to lift SMU to a 54-52 win at Virginia on Jan. 15.
UVA used a 12-0 run to gain a 50-45 lead, but SMU responded by burying three straight 3-pointers, including two from Miller, who led the Mustangs with 12 points.
Virginia is 1-6 away from home and 0-4 in true road contests.
The Cavaliers are averaging 59 points and allowing 73.9 points in seven games away from Charlottesville.
UVA has allowed 80 or points in three away games (St. John’s, Florida and Stanford) and is averaging 13.6 turnovers per game in away games compared to 9.2 at home.
Virginia returns two starters (Isaac McKneely and Andrew Rohde) along with Blake Buchanan and Taine Murray from last season’s team that finished third in the ACC (13-7) and advanced to the NCAA First Four.
In 2023-24, McKneely started 33 games and averaged 12.3 points and shot 44.5 percent from 3-point range, while Rohde started 27 games and averaged 4.3 points and 2.7 assists.
Buchanan averaged 3.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 15 minutes per game, while Murray netted 3.3 points per game.
McKneely and Saunders lead the team in scoring at 11.9 points and 11.6 points per game, respectively.
McKneely ranks second in the ACC in 3-point percentage (41.6%) and ranks third in 3-pointers made per game (2.76).
Saunders has led UVA in scoring in seven games and ranks sixth in the ACC in free throw percentage at 86.5 percent.
Andrew Rohde (8.8 ppg, 3.5 apg) ranks 11th in the ACC in assists and leads the team in steals (20). He is shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from distance (29.3% FG, and 25.7% 3FG last season).
Jacob Cofie (8.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg) leads the team in rebounding and is second in blocks (17) and steals (16).
Dai Dai Ames (6.2 ppg, 85% FTs) rejoined the starting five, while Blake Buchanan (5.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg), Ishan Sharma (3.6 ppg, 34% 3FG), Taine Murray (3.9 ppg, 31.8% 3FG), TJ Power (1.9 ppg, 1.4 rpg), and Anthony Robinson (1.5 ppg, 1.2 rpg) round out the rotation.
The Cavaliers have made six or more 3-pointers in 15 games, including a season-high 14 against Villanova.
UVA is shooting 42.7 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from 3-point range and 75.4 percent from the free throw line (42.8% FG, 35.8% 3FG, 63.7% FT last season).

(Photo of J'Vonne Hadley: Mark Konezny - Imagn Images)

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