It didn’t start well, almost didn’t end well, but in between, Virginia dominated an at-times listless Louisville squad on its way to a 71-61 win on Saturday.
Aside from 6’8”, 260-pound monster Sydney Curry, who had 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Cardinals, you got what you expected from a Louisville team that has now lost 14 of its last 16 games.
Curry was 9-of-13 from the floor and 6-of-6 at the line, and had a plus/minus of +4 in 33 minutes, meaning in the seven minutes he was on the bench, Virginia outscored Louisville by 14.
This from a guy who had two points and one rebound in nine minutes in the 64-52 loss at Virginia back on Jan. 24 that got Chris Mack fired.
Maybe we see why now that Mack was given his walking papers.
Big start for the Cards; Virginia answers
Neither team scored until a Jarrod West three at the 17:01 mark, which ignited an 8-0 Louisville run, capped by a Curry and-one a minute later.
Virginia didn’t get on the board until a jumper by Reece Beekman at 15:37, so there was another four-minute-plus scoreless streak for the ‘Hoos.
The Beekman make started a long stretch in which UVA connected on 15 of its 21 shots, nine of the makes layups or dunks.
Louisville, on its side, after its run of four straight makes, would finish the first half 7-of-25 from the floor, and Virginia went into the break up big, 36-17.
Response from Louisville
Credit to the Cardinals for not packing it in.
As Virginia stumbled out of the locker room, Louisville opened on a 12-3 run to get the deficit down to 10, at 39-29, on a tough Curry layup.
Virginia got the lead back to 17 three different times – on threes by Kody Stattmann and Reece Beekman, who hit a pair, the second of which made it 58-41 at the 7:07 mark.
Louisville hit its next seven shots from the field, in a stretch that saw the Cardinals score three points – either the easy way, via the long-range shot, or the hard way, through and-one – seven times over the course of eight possessions.
The final make of the stretch was a contested three by Malik Williams that got the Virginia lead to seven, at 66-59, with 3:31 on the clock.
Beeks
Beekman came in shooting 30.9 percent from three, but that stat is deceptive. The 6’3” sophomore was 3-of-19 (15.8 percent) from long-range through 11 games, but his accuracy (14-of-36, 38.8 percent) and confidence in shooting threes had improved dramatically, and he’d shown the ability to hit triples in bunches (going 3-of-5 in games against Clemson and Pitt, and 2-of-3 in the loss at NC State).
Already 2-of-2 from three-point range in the second half, Beekman hit the biggest shot of the game for Virginia, an open three with 2:52 to go, to push the lead back to 10.
Beekman would finish with 15 points, a career-high 12 rebounds, five assists, five steals and one turnover in 39 minutes.
Not over yet
Louisville, out of a Mike Pegues timeout, executed to perfection an alley-oop to Curry off the inbounds for a dunk that made it 69-61 at the 1:57 mark.
Bad time for Beekman’s only turnover of the game, overshooting Kihei Clark trying to beat a Louisville press, getting the ball back to the Cardinals, down eight with 1:45 to go.
Louisville got the ball to Williams, a 6’11” senior, back from a one-game suspension only because it was Senior Day, according to Pegues, in a one-on-one matchup with the 6’7” Stattmann.
Williams worked himself into the lane and then to the rim for a left-handed layup, but the ball rolled off the rim.
That would have made it a two-possession game, and put big-time game pressure on Virginia.
The ‘Hoos couldn’t convert on their next possession, with Jayden Garder coming up short on a baseline jumper with 1:08 to go.
Endgame
Noah Locke misfired on a quick three, Beekman snared the rebound, and this began the endgame, with Louisville forced to foul.
Armaan Franklin, a 75.0 percent free-throw shooter, made the front end of a one-and-one, but missed the back end, with 48.9 seconds to go.
Beekman picked the pocket of Locke nine seconds later, and Louisville had to foul Clark, an 80.6 percent free-throw shooter, who made 1-of-2 to push the lead back to 10 with 32 seconds left.
One more Beekman steal, on a pass from Curry, and Pegues called off his guys.
Quick analysis
- Louisville opened on an 8-0 run, had a 12-3 run out of halftime, an 18-8 burst in the latter stages. That’s +27 in three runs, in a game that ended up 71-61 the other way.
- Virginia had a 24-2 run in the first half, and aside from that, just grinded.
- Rebounds were basically even – Virginia 32, Louisville 30.
- Louisville had a 12-8 edge in offensive rebounds, but only an 8-7 margin in second-chance points.
- Turnovers (Louisville 12, Virginia 10) and points off turnovers (Louisville 18, Virginia 17) were pretty much even.
- Points in the paint: Virginia 28, Louisville 28.
- Virginia shot better: overall (25-of-49, 51.0 percent, to Louisville’s 22-of-55, 40.0 percent), from three (7-of-12, 58.3 percent, to Louisville’s 8-of-23, 34.8 percent), and at the line (14-of-18, 77.8 percent, to Louisville’s 9-of-12, 75.0 percent).
- At the rim: Louisville 12-of-16 (75.0 percent), Virginia 11-of-15 (73.3 percent).
- Two-point jumpers: Virginia 7-of-22 (31.8 percent), Louisville 2-of-16 (12.5 percent).
- Points per possession: Virginia 1.246, Louisville 1.017.
Story by Chris Graham
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Chris Graham
