Fourth-ranked Virginia held #11 Louisville without a field goal for the first 9:18 of the game and never looked back in a 68-46 win on Saturday in Charlottesville.
With the win, UVA (24-6, 13-5 ACC) clinches the second seed in next week’s ACC Tournament. North Carolina won the regular-season title earlier in the day on Saturday with a 76-72 win at Duke.
The Cavs’ win in their regular-season finale resembled the 63-47 win at Louisville when these teams met back in January. Virginia led 29-17 at the half, holding Louisville to 25 percent shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes.
Louisville (23-8, 12-6 ACC) cut the lead to 10 with a layup by Chinanu Onuaku on the Cardinals’ first possession of the second half, but that was as close as they would get.
Virginia’s five graduating seniors all played key roles in the win. Malcolm Brogdon led the ‘Hoos with 17 points. Anthony Gill had 15, 13 in the first half.
Mike Tobey had a career game, scoring 15 and grabbing a career-high 20 rebounds.
Evan Nolte started on Senior Night and hit two threes in the opening four minutes and finished with six points.
Walk-on senior Caid Kirven brought the crowd down with a three in the final minute.
Virginia shot 51.3 percent for the game (20-of-39), including a blistering 70.6 percent (12-of-17) in the second half.
Louisville shot 27.6 percent for the game (16-of-58).
The Cards’ ‘season comes to an end. The school self-imposed sanctions in the midst of an investigation into alleged parties involving strippers organized by a former UL staffer.
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