Louisville Completes Season Sweep vs. Virginia, Pushes Winning Streak to Eight Games

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two weeks removed from snapping a nine-game losing streak to Virginia in Charlottesville, the Louisville men's basketball program doubled down on that performance in the rematch, winning 81-67 at the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday.

Not only do the Cardinals (14-5, 7-1 ACC) extend their current winning streak to eight for their longest since the 2019-20 season, it's their first time pulling off a regular season sweep over the Cavaliers (8-10, 1-6 ACC) in their 10 tries since joining the ACC. It's also their first time doing so against any ACC opponent since the 2020-21 season when they accomplished it against Duke.

Louisville might have been out-shot, going 43.3 percent from the floor and 6-of-23 on three, compared to 47.1 percent and 8-of-21, respectively, for Virginia, but they made up for it everywhere else on the floor.

The Cardinals forced 15 turnovers for 20 points on the other end, while only coughing it up seven times themselves - tied for their second-lowest against a power conference opponent this season.

Combined with out-rebounding them 36-30 (plus 10-5 on the offensive boards), Louisville put up 1.191 points per possession while Virginia was held to .985.

Four Cardinals cracked double figures in scoring, led by a 19-point effort from Reyne Smith. Terrence Edwards had 16 points and had a +/- of 23, J'Vonne Hadley added 13 points, while James Scott had a 12-point and 10-rebound double-double.

Louisville got off to a fairly fast-paced start against Virginia's packline defense. While they only hit four of their first 12 shots, they were able to add seven made free throws over the first eight minutes to lead by as much as 12 less than 10 minutes into the game.

The Cavaliers were able to slow down the Cardinals some after that, but they were still able to drain nine of their final 16 shot attempts of the half. Combine that with holding UVA to only 11-of-31 shooting in the first half, and UofL went into the break with a 39-28 lead - which was their second-largest halftime advantage in their 31-game series with the Cavs.

Early in the second half, water began to trickle faster, but the floodgates didn't spring wide open. Louisville shot 4-for-8 in the first four minutes, limited Virginia to 1-for-5 in the first six minutes, and forced five turnovers in the first eight minutes to lead by as much as 20 points.

But the Cavaliers wouldn't roll over. The proceeded to hit five shots in a row, while holding the Cardinals to a 2-for-11 stretch, cutting the advantage to only 11 points with 8:31 left and threatening to make it single digits.

Sparked by a Smith three-pointer, Louisville then proceeded to go on a 10-2 run to push the lead back out to 20, and never looked back. In the final eight and a half minutes, UofL hit seven of their final 13 shots to counter UVA's 7-of-10 clip in the same stretch.

Next up, Louisville head back on the road for a showdown against ACC-newcomer SMU. Tip-off against the Mustangs is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 9:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Aboubacar Traore, Jacob Cofie and Khani Rooths: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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