Virginia Avoids Disastrous Upset, Escapes Louisville With Sloppy 61-58 Win
Whew.
Missed free throws once again proved costly for the Cavaliers, who nearly suffered what would have been an embarrassment of an upset loss. The 3-22 Cardinals gave the Hoos all they could handle, but No. 7 Virginia made just enough plays down the stretch, including one big defensive stop in the final moments, to avoid a catastrophic upset with a 61-58 win over Louisville on Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.
In a Zoom press conference this week, Tony Bennett warned that the Cardinals were a much more capable team than their record would suggest and said a lot of that had to do with El Ellis. Louisville's star guard and the ACC's third-leading scorer proved as much right away, making four of his first five baskets, including three three-pointers. The fast start by Ellis gave arguably the worst team in major conference basketball a lead as large as nine points over the seventh-ranked team in the nation. Louisville led 26-17 with a little over five minutes remaining in the first half, as Virginia was sloppy on both ends of the floor.
Then came a crucial run for the Cavaliers to close out the first half and it started on the defensive end with UVA holding Louisville scoreless for the final five minutes of the first half. On the offensive end, it was Armaan Franklin who almost single-handedly got Virginia back in the game. Franklin tallied 12 points in the first half on 4/6 shooting, helping the Cavaliers end the half on a 12-0 run to take a 29-26 halftime lead.
Virginia carried that momentum into the second half and built a 37-30 lead less than four minutes in behind six quick points from Jayden Gardner. The Cavaliers could have run away with the game at that point, but instead, UVA endured another lengthy scoring drought, allowing the Cardinals to string together a 12-4 run to regain the lead on a three-pointer from JJ Traynor.
After trading baskets, Virginia settled things down again as Kihei Clark started to take the game over. The Cavaliers went on a 9-0 run, with six of those points coming from Clark, who had nine of his 14 points in the second half. Another crafty layup from Clark gave Virginia a 55-45 lead, marking another point at which the Cavaliers could have taken control with just five minutes left in the game.
Instead, UVA's offense sputtered once again, making just two shots in the final five minutes while the Cardinals made some tough shots to keep their foot in the door. Mike James splashed a three-pointer and Sydney Curry scored a putback layup to get Louisville back within five, but Isaac McKneely responded with a heavily-contested three-pointer from the top of the key. El Ellis knocked down a jumper and Jayden Gardner answered back with a layup underneath the basket off the feed from Clark, pushing the UVA lead back to 60-52 with three minutes left.
Louisville made four free throws over the next two minutes to make it 60-56 and then Kihei Clark drew a foul, but made just one of two free throws. JJ Traynor grabbed an offensive rebound on Louisville's next possession and scored a putback layup to make it a three-point game with 31 seconds remaining. Louisville sent Kihei Clark to the free throw line and he missed the front end of the one-and-one, keeping it a one-possession game. After missed free throws led to Virginia squandering a late five-point lead against Duke on Saturday to send that game into overtime, the same nearly happened again on Wednesday night in Louisville.
Instead, the Cavaliers delivered a smothering defensive possession with the game on the line, denying the Cardinals a clean look at every turn. Eventually, Kamari Lands had to hoist up a heavily-contested off-balance three-pointer that barely made it to the rim and Ben Vander Plas collected the rebound and was fouled with just 0.7 seconds remaining. Naturally, Vander Plas missed the free throw, leaving Virginia just 9/16 (56.3%) from the free throw line for the game, but Louisville didn't even attempt the full-court shot at the buzzer and Virginia escaped with a sloppy 61-58 win.
After struggling to stay in front of El Ellis on the defensive end in the first half, Kihei Clark was instrumental for the Cavaliers in the second half, tallying 14 points, six assists, and four rebounds, with a great deal of that production coming after halftime. Armaan Franklin also had 14 points on 5/8 shooting to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Ben Vander Plas recorded a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double and Jayden Gardner also reached double figures with 10 points. Isaac McKneely gave UVA a solid lift with eight points, including the big three-pointer late in the second half.
El Ellis was as good as advertised for Louisville, dropping 21 points, four rebounds and three assists. But it was a solid team performance for the Cardinals, as Jae'Lyn Withers had 12 points and eight rebounds, Mike James had 10 points, and JJ Traynor had a near double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
Louisville hit eight three-pointers as a team, but UVA outscored Louisville 30-20 in the paint. Virginia's free throw shooting struggles allowed Louisville to have a chance late, but UVA's defense showed up when it mattered most to secure the victory.
It was hardly an impressive game to win, but it was a very important one not to lose, as the Cavaliers avoid what would have been a Quad 4 loss to the NET's 330th-ranked team. Even more importantly, the win allows UVA to keep pace with Pittsburgh in the heated race for the ACC regular season title, with the Cavaliers and Panthers tied for first in the ACC at 12-3.
Now 20-4 overall, Virginia hosts Notre Dame on Saturday at 12pm at John Paul Jones Arena.
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