Louisville Comes Close, Can't Knock Off No. 7 Virginia

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Just four days removed from nearly knocking off No. 19 Miami on the road, the Louisville men's basketball program was almost able to complete the bid for an upset against No. 7 Virginia, but instead fell 61-58 Wednesday at the KFC Yum! Center.

Trailing by three with 29 seconds left, a missed free throw from UVA's Kihei Clark gave the Cardinals a chance to send the game to overtime with a three-pointer. However, indecisiveness as to who would take said shot resulted in an off-balance shot from Kamari Lands with two seconds left, which fell short and was rebounded by Virginia.

As a result, Louisville (3-23, 1-14 ACC) suffers their sixth loss in a row against the Cavaliers (20-4, 12-3 ACC), and their fourth in a row for the season. The Cardinals have not taken down Virginia since an 80-73 decision on Feb. 8, 2020, and are 2-15 against the Hoos since joining the ACC in 2014.

Louisville was barely edged by Virginia is the shooting department, going 42.0 percent from the field to their visitors' 44.2 percent. They did, however, had the advantage on the perimeter and at the charity stripe, shooting 8-of-20 on threes and 8-of-10 on free throws to 6-of-18 and 9-of-16 from the Cavs, respectively.

Turnovers did play a role, but albeit not a major one like in games past. Louisville committed 10 to give Virginia 13 points off them, but the Cardinals forced six Cavaliers turnovers themselves for five points.

Once again, El Ellis led the charge offensively with a game-high 21 points. Jae'Lyn Withers followed him up with 12 points, with Kamari Lands also collecting 10 of his own. On the other side, four of Virginia's starting five cracked double figures.

Given Virginia's tedious style of play on both ends of the court, it was struggle for Louisville to get into an offensive rhythm right out of the gates. However, the Cardinals' defense also kept the Cavaliers in check shooting-wise early on, keeping the game deadlocked at 10 points a piece through the first nine minutes.

Through the middle part of the first half, thanks mainly to Ellis, Louisville started getting things going offensively. After starting the game shooting 3-for-10, the Cardinals hit six of their next nine shots, using a 16-7 run to pull ahead by as much as nine with just over five minutes left in the half.

But it was Virginia who had the momentum at halftime. The Cavaliers finally got out of their funk offensively, firing off a 12-0 scoring run in a span of roughly three minutes towards the end of the half. Combined with Louisville missing their final five shots of the half, the Hoos took a 29-26 advantage into the half.

The two teams spent the first ten minutes of the second half trading blows, not gaining a ton of ground on the other. It wasn't until the nine-minute mark that Virginia fired off an 11-1 run to give them a 10-point lead with 5:16 left that it seemed like an insurmountable lead for Louisville.

To Louisville's credit, they fought to give themselves a chance. They were able to whittle the Cavaliers lead down the stretch thanks in part to clutch free throws from Withers and Ellis, setting themselves up for the ending.

Next up, Louisville will stay at the KFC Yum! Center for a rematch against Clemson. Tip-off against the Tigers is set for Saturday, Feb. 18 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of El Ellis: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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